Les phrases avec si : les trois schémas (si + présent / imparfait / plus-que-parfait)

Unité GR-29 · campagne 15 · trois schémas fixes, zéro improvisation.

French conditional sentences run on three fixed templates. Learn them as whole schemas, not word by word — the tense in the si-clause and the tense in the result clause are locked together.

The iron rule: never a future or a conditional directly after si. Si j'aurai… and si je voudrais… are the two classic errors, and Russian quietly encourages both. Russian says если у меня будет время — a real future after если — where French demands the present: si j'ai le temps demain. And Russian если бы + past covers both unreal schemas (если бы я знал = present or past counterfactual, context decides), while French splits them: si je savais (I don't know now) versus si j'avais su (I didn't know then). When the missed chance is behind you, the si-clause must climb to the plus-que-parfait.

Two notes to round it off:

1. The schemas can mix when times differ: Si tu avais étudié (past), tu serais ingénieur aujourd'hui (present result) — plus-que-parfait with conditionnel présent is legitimate.
2. Au cas où is the exception that does take the conditional: au cas où il pleuvrait. It is the only "if"-word that wants one.

The practice makes you pick the right tense on both sides of all three schemas.

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