The conditional of irregular verbs

Key points

As with regular verbs, irregular verbs in the conditional are formed in the same way as in the future tense only with conditional endings.
Examples include j'irais (I'd go), j’aurais (I'd have), je serais (I'd be) and je ferais (I'd do).

As with regular verbs, irregular verbs in the conditional are formed in the same way as in the future tense only with the new endings. Here is a selection of some of the most common:

Table 37: Conditional irregular verbs
finir to finish
aller	j'irai	I would go
avoir	j'aurais	I would have
devoir	je devrais	I would have to
être	je serais	I would be
faire	je ferais	I would do
savoir	je saurais	I would know
venir	je viendrais	I would come
voir	je verrais	I would see
vouloir	je voudrais	I would want

Given the number of irregular verbs there are to learn, it might help at first to learn some conditional expressions as set phrases:

Je voudrais une glace aux fraises, s’il vous plaît

I’d like a strawberry ice-ceam, please

Je préférerais aller au cinéma

I’d prefer to go to the cinema

On pourrait peut-être demander à Pierre de venir

We could perhaps ask Pierre to come

On devrait rentrer chez nous

We ought to go back home

Il faudrait te décider maintenant si tu veux aller

You need to decide now if you want to go

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