The sequence of tenses between the pluperfect and the conditional allows for the expression of past actions or situations that could have occurred under certain conditions but did not happen.
Pluperfect
The verb conjugated in the pluperfect expresses the unrealized condition in the past.
- si j'avais su (if I had known)
- si tu avais travaillé (if you had worked)
Past Conditional
The verb conjugated in the past conditional expresses the action that could have occurred if the condition had been met.
- je serais venu (I would have come)
- tu aurais réussi ton examen (you would have passed your exam)
Examples
- Si j'avais su, je serais venu. (If I had known, I would have come.)
- Si tu avais travaillé plus dur, tu aurais réussi l'examen. (If you had worked harder, you would have passed the exam.)
- Si elle était arrivée à l'heure, nous aurions commencé la réunion à temps. (If she had arrived on time, we would have started the meeting on time.)
Usage
This sequence of tenses is typically used to:
- Express regrets or reproaches about past actions.
- Formulate hypotheses about events that did not happen in the past.