Hypothesis in French - the uses of Si

June 2013 Grammar Corner: Hypothesis in French - the uses of Si
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Hypothesis in French - the uses of Si
Si - if - is used to create hypothetical statements:
• A hypothesis on the future (what you will do in the future if the conditions you wish for come
together)
• A hypothesis on the present (what you would be doing now in a parallel reality where things would
not be as they are now...)
• A hypothesis on the past (what you would have done in a parallel reality in the past if the conditions
had not be what they were).
The constructions of these hypothetical statements follow very strict tense rules in French (they are
actually the same as in English). I suggest you remember the examples I use to illustrate these rules
and different kind of hypotheses.
1 - Hypothesis on the future = hypothesis that CAN become real
• Si + present / future tense
Demain, s’il pleut, tu iras au musée, et s’il fait beau, tu iras à la plage (we all know how hypothetical
the weather forecast is....) Tomorrow, if it rains, you will go to the museum, and if it’s nice out, you
will go to the beach.
Note: This hypothesis CAN become a reality. The conditions you are talking about are in the future, they
might or might not become a reality. This is the hypothesis parents use all the time with children... “Si
tu manges toute ta viande, tu auras une glace” (If you eat all your meat you’ll have some ice cream.)
Instead of the simple future, we also use the near future construction: aller + infinitive.
Si tu manges trop de glace, tu vas avoir mal au ventre. If you eat too much ice-cream, you’re going to
have a tummy ache (I believe English speakers would say will here, to reinforce the certainty of it. In
French, it’s the contrary, we’d use the near future to reinforce the likeliness of it to become a reality).
2 - Hypothesis on the present = alternative present reality
• Si + imperfect /conditional tense
S’il faisait beau maintenant, tu irais à la plage (but it’s raining now...) If it was nice out now, you
would go to the beach.
Th i n k French - ju in 2013
Note: This hypothesis CANNOT become a reality right now. But it might change in the very near
future - maybe the weather is going to clear up in 5 minutes...
This is the most commonly used hypothesis in French, it bears a notion of wish. For example, in a job
application letter, I would say “Si je travaillais pour FrenchToday, je suis certaine que mon français
s’améliorerait”. (If I worked for FrenchToday, I’m sure my French would get better). Since it’s a job
application, there is no way this hypothesis applies to the present. We should use a hypothesis on the
future construction. But I guess we use that one in the idea “I wish so much I worked there now, that
would be my reality if I worked there now.”
As before, instead of using the conditional, you will hear this construction with the “near future” in the
past - I don’t know if there is a better grammar name for it, but this one should be self explanatory...
Note that to build the “near future” in the past, you put “aller” in the imperfect.
Tu avais décidé que s’il pleuvait, tu allais regarder la télé. You had decided that if it rained, you were
going to watch TV (English speakers here are more likely to say “you would watch TV”.)
3 - Hypothesis on the past = alternative past reality
• Si + pluperfect / past conditional tense
Hier, s’il avait fait beau, tu serais allé(e) à la plage (but it rained all day...)Yesterday, if it had been nice
out, you would have gone to the beach.
Note: This hypothesis CANNOT become a reality at all. You are talking about a past event. You are
saying what you would have done if the conditions had not been what they were.
Reminder: The pluperfect follows the same agreement rules as passé composé, but with être / avoir
in imperfect. The past conditional follows the same agreement rules as passé composé, but with être
/ avoir in conditional.
Note: You can also reverse the order of the sentence: “You would have gone to the beach if the
weather had been nice.”
4 - Si for “when”
I am not sure whether it is grammatically correct, but we use it a lot in spoken French.
• Si + present tense / present tense
Si je gagne au loto, j’achète une voiture. If/when I win the lottery, I buy a car.
The concept here is the instant reaction. It is no longer a hypothesis on what I will do, since what I will
do is a certainty once the first condition happens - hence the same time line... It makes the sentence