Level B1 (Intermediate)
Today’s lesson explains how to say would, could and should in French following several requests from students and newsletter readers. We’ve tried to keep the grammatical explanations to a minimum.
Example sentences
1) Would
The most common way to say would in French is to use the conditional mood. Hence, j’achèterais means “I would buy”.
J’achèterais la voiture si j’avais assez d’argent.
I would buy the car if I had more enough money.
For this second sentence, the meaning of would is “used to”. Here, the French use the imperfect tense.
Quand j’étais un enfant, je jouais dehors tous les jours.
When I was a child, I would play outside all the time.
2) Could
To say could as in “was able to do something” the French use the verb pouvoir (can, to be able) in the passé composé followed by an infinitive.
J’ai pu apprendre tous les mots en très peu de temps.
I could learn all the words in very little time.
To say could as in “could you please” for making polite requests, the French use the verb pouvoir in the conditional mood. Hence “Pourrais-tu ?” or “Est-ce que tu pourrais ?” means “could you?” In the vous-form, you’d say “Pourriez-vous ?” or “Est-ce que vous pourriez ?”
Pourrais-tu me donner un coup de main, s’il te plaît ?
Could you give me a hand, please?
3) Should
To say should, the French use the verb devoir (must, to have to) in the conditional mood. Hence, je devrais + infinitive means “I should + verb”.
Je devrais apprendre tous les temps des verbes en français.
I should learn all the French verb tenses.
To express should or shouldn’t have for regrets, the French use the verb devoir in the conditional perfect (a.k.a. the past conditional). Hence, j’aurais dû + infinitive means “I should have” and je n’aurais pas dû + infinitive means “I shouldn’t have”.
Tu n’aurais pas dû vendre la bagnole !
You shouldn’t sell the car!
Related lessons
- Conditional tense (present)
- Conditional perfect (past conditional)
- J’aurais dû – I should have
- Je devrais – I should
