le conditionnel passé

The past conditional represents the past of the present conditional mood. In French, the past conditional is called le passé du conditionnel or le conditionnel antérieur. Both the present and past conditional express hypothetical (unreal, theoretical) situations or conditions.

formation

The past conditional has two  parts, an auxiliary verb and the past participle.  The past conditional  is formed with the conditional of the auxiliary (either avoir or être) and the past participle of the main verb.

REVIEW: How to form the past participle.

REVIEW:  Which verbs take avoir (most), which take être in the passé composé and past conditional?

TIP:  The same verbs take avoir/être in the passé composé and in the past conditional, so you already know some of this!

Most verbs use avoir as an auxiliary.  BUT pronominal verbs  (like s’amuser, se coucher) and verbs of movement (like arriver, partir, descendre…) generally use être  (see the La maison d'être). 

uses

Like the present conditional, the past conditional is used for hypotheses. Unlike the present conditional, however, it is used to describe or imagine events and actions which never happened. This is why it is often used to express regret about events which did not occur: I would have, I could have, I should have...

In most cases, the past conditional is translated as meaning would have as in English. However, j'aurais pu means 'I could have'; j'aurais dû means 'I should have', and

j'aurais voulu means 'I would have liked'.

The past conditional is found in si clauses with the pluperfect (le plus-que-parfait).  Si clauses with the pluperfect also describe events that did not occur.

In the dialogue below, all the verbs in the past conditional describe events that would have happened had the original condition been fulfilled. For example, Shaun *did* come to UIC and *did* meet Mara (he didn’t go to Kennedy-King).

possibility or uncertainty

The past conditional, like the present conditional, gives information on a past event about which the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. It is used by journalists and reporters: translations include:  seem, allegedly, is said to...