Using L'Imparfait in hypothetical clauses introduced by si (if) + Le Conditionnel Présent

Hi Deborah, 

If I have understood your question correctly it is the same as in English-

If I did this , I would do that ....

Hope this helps!

Hi Angela, 

As this is a technical and not a language question can you re-post on the Help and support section where someone might be able to answer you?

Yes. Thank you!

There are three levels of "probability" with si-clauses:

If I run. -- Si je cours. (Possible)

If I ran. -- Si je courais. (Hypothetical)

If I had run. -- Si j'avais couru. (Impossible, it already happened.)

This is pretty much parallel what you would use in English. 

So "if I could run" is a hypothetical case (#2). Therefore:

Si je pouvais courir. 

The other two cases are:

Si je peux courir. -- If I can run  

Si j'avais pu courir. -- If I could have run (If I had been able to run). 

Hi Gregory,

The lesson is still under construction, so I will try and explain:

There are 3 types -

1.  To express a likely situation using the present ------future/imperative

Si tu cours, tu auras ton train = If you run, you'll catch your train 

Si tu peux, va chercher les enfants à l'école =If you can, go and fetch the children at school

2. To express an unlikely situation using the imperfect ------conditional present

Si tu lui parlais gentiment, il te répondrait = If you spoke nicely to him, he would answer you

Si tu travaillais à l'école, tu réussirais = I you worked at school, you'd succeed

3. To express an impossible situation (as in the past) using the PluPerfect -----Conditional past

Si tu lui avais répondu gentiment, il t'aurait répondu = If you had spoken to him nicely, he would have answered you

Si vous leur aviez donné de meilleures instructions ils ne se seraient pas perdus = If you'd given them better instructions, they wouldn't have got lost

Hope this helps

Thanks! This is very helpful. Good to know the lesson is coming along...I thought I’d missed something somewhere.

The Si-clause always uses the imperfect whereas the conditional is used only in the main clause. If you switch the order of clauses, naturally, the verb forms switch places too, so that the imperfect remakns with the Si-clause and the conditional with the main clause.

-- Chris.

Hi - tks. I think I got that - my point was that hadn't been made clear in the lesson.

Hi David, I see what you mean. There is only one example which has the si-clause come second. Maybe a couple more examples and a sentence alerting the reader to this fact would help.

-- Chris.

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

Bonjour Barbara, Did you mean to say confusing? Please let us know what you're having trouble with and we'll do our best to help.

Laura - please see my comment.

David

Hi Meghna The conjugation table for venir is here: https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/verbs/venir">https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/verbs/venir">https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/verbs/venir">https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/verbs/venir

Venait is l'imparfait not conditionnel .

Hope that helps!

Thank you Gruff for taking the time to respond. 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.