|
Conditional
The Conditional is often treated as a Tense,
but is more properly a Mood. There
are two forms, the Present (il refuserait) and
the Past (elle aurait refusé).
|
Meanings of the Conditional
1. Hypotheses
La nouvelle législation, si elle était adoptée,
aggraverait la misère du
peuple cubain et augmenterait la
probabilité de troubles, de violences...
(Present)
The new legislation, if it were adopted, would aggravate the misfortunes
of the Cuban people and would increase the probability of disturbances,
violence...
Si la législation avait été adoptée,
elle aurait aggravé... (Past)
If the legislation had been adopted, it would have aggravated...
2. Reported as true
The Conditional sometimes has a special meaning: it can be the equivalent
of an Indicative in English, and indicate that what is said is
reported as true, but not guaranteed to be true. This is very common
in news reporting and is usually accompanied by an adverbial introduced
by selon (according to):
Selon la dernière théorie en vigeur, les Polynésiens
descendraient des populations caucasiennes.
Ils seraient partis du sud-est
Asiatique en direction du Pacifique aux alentours de l'an 1000 av.
J.C., pour se stabiliser enfin dans les îles de la Société
dans les années 200 à 300 ap. J.C. De l'île de
Raïatea les Polynésiens se
seraient ensuite dirigés
vers la Nouvelle Zélande et vers les îles Hawaii. (http://www.tahiti.com:80/francais/zframe/guide-tahiti.htm)
[According to the latest theory, the Polynesians are
descended from Caucasian peoples. They (are thought to
have) left South East Asia ...
the Polynesians then went towards
New Zealand]
Selon certains textes, il semblerait
qu'un bon nombre de chrétiens fût massacré
dans la ville et alentours au moment de l'exécution du saint.
(http://www.paris.dotcom.fr/paris/18e/histoire/saint-denis.html)
[it seems that]
L'intoxication au Net "selon certains experts" cités par
Newsweek toucherait quelque 200.000
personnes aux Etats-Unis.
[Internet intoxication "according to some experts" quoted by Newsweek
affects (apparently affects) some
200,000 people in the States. ]
The use of a Present Conditional toucherait, instead
of a Present Indicative touche, indicates that what is
being said is alleged to be true but not guaranteed. The usual English
translation is simply the Present Indicative tense. Exactly the same
use is made of the Past Conditional, equivalent to a Past Indicative:
Selon M. Gary Jarmin, président républicain d'une
fondation qui souhaite accroître le commerce avec Cuba,
la proposition de loi Burton-Helms aurait
été rédigée avec l'appui
de M. Nicolas Gutierrez (un ancien baron du sucre), et de la
famille Bacardi qui verrait d'un
mauvais oeil Pernod-Ricard commercialiser le rhum Havana Club.
[...the Burton-Helms bill was written
with the help of...]
This phenomenon is treated very well, with exercises to boot, at the
Sud-Ouest site in France. The only problem is that the explanations
are in French. To get to the right page choose Parcours de lecture,
then En bref, then Brèves; Zaïre, Essonne,
then scroll to the bottom and choose Approfondir. Click here
to start.
about the Conditional.
Exercises
|
