We'll start in a bit of an order, to make it a bit more flowing.
1) Le conditionnel:
This is describing things that are hypothetical, that aren't definite or certain, or events that aren't certain to happen. They are usually in 'if' clauses, that is, two ideas joined by an 'if'. Or, in French, 'si'.
I
would read the book
if you gave it to me!
Je
lirais le livre
si tu me le donnais.
2) Le conditionnel passé:
This is basically the past of the above. Something
would have happened if something else
had. Again, dependent on if/si
If I knew that you were hungry, I would have bought you something to eat.
Si je savais que tu avais faim, je t'
aurais acheté quelque chose a` manger.
It also functions as '
should have' in other cases. Here, there is an implied fact about which we already know. I put the 'implied fact' in brackets.
He
should have kept the tickets (that he gave to Julie).
Il
aurait dû garder les billets (qu'il a offert a` Julie).
or, even an example from
Marius et Jeannette (!), when Jeannette comes home in the morning after having slept with Marius, Magali says:
T'
aurais dû nous prévenir!
Note that when in English, the 'kept' is the past, while the French 'garder' uses the infinitive.
There is a remarkably more comprehensive (and infinitely more clearer!) description of this here
at french.about.com.
3) Le passé récent:
This is rather simple after the conditionals!
The recent past simply uses the present tense conjugation of 'venir', with the 'de', and the infinitive of something else, to give the impression of something that has JUST finished.
Hurray! I
just finished my HSC exams!
Hourra! Je
viens de finir mes examens du bac
You should have come earlier. We just finished watching it.
Vous auriez dû venir un peu plus tôt. Le film vient de finir.
(^
)
A: Did you tell him?
B: Yeah, I told him just then.
A: Tu le lui as dit?
B: Ouais, je viens de lui dire...
4) Le futur passé - or do you mean le futur antérieur, the future perfect?
This is the future tense coupled with a past participle. It described something that
will have happened by a (specified) time in the future. For example:
Tuesday afternoon? That's too late! We
will have left by next Monday!
Mardi après-midi? Ce sera trop tard! On
sera partis lundi prochain!
Also, it's used as the tense you have to use after certain conjunctions, like quand, dès que, une fois que, etc.
When he comes down, he will do it.
Quand il sera descendu, il le fera.
As soon as we will arrived, Marie will be happy.
Dès qu'on sera arrivés, Marie sera heureuse.
These are shite examples, because I keep NOT thinking in the future perfect, rather the future thing with the adjective that follows it like "J'achèterai le nouvel album de Lynda Lemay
dès qu'il sera disponible", which is not what I'm trying to demonstrate lol!
Here, once again from french.about.com, is a lesson on le futur antérieur - the future perfect
Hope this helps!
Chépas
.
Edit: Hip -
.
Thanks leetom, you're finally making me think again! It's been a while...
