Here's a hypothetical situation in English:
-> Here you can see that if is followed by a verb in the Simple Past (won), while the second clause uses the Conditional Present (would buy).
Now look at the French:
-> Here you see that in French, si is followed by a verb in L'Imparfait (gagnait), while the second clause uses Le Conditionnel Présent (achèterait).
Here are more examples:
Si on gagnait au loto, on achèterait une maison.
If we won the lottery, we would buy a house.
Si tu venais avec moi, tu ne le regretterais pas.
If you came with me, you wouldn't regret it.
Je ne saurais pas quoi faire si j'étais toi.
I wouldn't know what to do if I were you.
Si j'étais riche, j'achèterais un appartement à Paris.
If I were rich, I would buy an appartment in Paris.
Note that to express hypotheses in French, you'll use L'Imparfait after si, and Le Conditionnel Présent in the second part of the sentence.
ATTENTION:
See other uses of L'Imparfait:
Expressing continuing action in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
Expressing habits or repeated actions in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
And to see how to conjugate in L'Imparfait:
Conjugate regular verbs in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense) and Conjugate être in L'Imparfait (imperfect tense)
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Je ne saurais pas quoi faire si j'étais toi.
I wouldn't know what to do if I were you.
Si on gagnait au loto, on achèterait une maison.
If we won the lottery, we would buy a house.
Si tu venais avec moi, tu ne le regretterais pas.
If you came with me, you wouldn't regret it.
S'ils économisaient plus, ils pourraient se permettre des vacances.
If they saved more, they could afford holidays.
Si tu faisais tes devoirs le vendredi, tu serais libre le reste du weekend.
If you did your homework on Fridays, you would be free the rest of the weekend.
Si j'étais riche, j'achèterais un appartement à Paris.
If I were rich, I would buy an appartment in Paris.
Q&A
Laura
Kwiziq language super star
4/07/17
Did you mean to say confusing? Please let us know what you're having trouble with and we'll do our best to help.
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
4/04/17
Venait is l'imparfait not conditionnel .
Hope that helps!
Meghna
Kwiziq community member
4/04/17
I figured it out now. I was conditioned to expect imparfait in the first part and conditionnel in second, hence my confusion.
Realized this one had the ´Si in second part of sentence and it became crystal clear.
Winifred
Kwiziq community member
18 March 2018
1 reply
Link to a lesson on the conditional présent.
Conditional présent looks like infinitive + endings for the imperfect, but there seem to be exceptions - e.g. être.
Chris
Kwiziq community member
19 March 2018
19/03/18
Hi Winfred,
here is the link to one of the conditional-lessons in the library. I think it serves as a good starting point to explore irregular verbs as well.
Greetings, -- Chris.
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/glossary/verb-tense-mood/the-french-present-conditional-le-conditionnel-present