Literary second-form past conditional

Level 6

The Conditionnel passé deuxième forme is a prestigious, archaic variant of the standard past conditional. It is used in classical literature to describe things that would have happened in the past but didn't.

How It Works

The Conditionnel passé deuxième forme is essentially a 'ghost' tense. It is labeled as a 'second form' of the conditional when it performs the role of a conditional (expressing a counterfactual result) rather than being triggered by a subjunctive requirement.

1. Formation and Agreement:

  • Auxiliary: Conjugate avoir or être in the imperfect subjunctive (e.g., j'eusse, tu eusses, il eût, nous eussions, vous eussiez, ils eussent).
  • Past Participle: Add the past participle. Note that standard past participle agreement rules (gender/number) and agreement with preceding direct objects remain strictly in effect.

2. The Critical Accent:
In the 3rd person singular (il/elle/on), a circumflex accent must be placed over the 'u' (il eût, il fût). This distinguishes it from the passé antérieur (il eut), which is an indicative tense used for facts, not hypotheses.

3. Usage and Register:
This form is extinct in spoken French and modern informal writing. You will encounter it in:

  • Classical theater (Corneille, Racine).
  • 19th-century and early 20th-century literature (Hugo, Balzac, Proust).
  • Highly stylized academic essays or formal historical accounts.

4. Functional Flexibility:
Unlike the standard Si + plus-que-parfait, conditionnel passé structure, the second form can replace the verb in the si clause, the result clause, or both, to elevate the tone of the hypothesis.

Examples (4)

  1. J'eusse aimé vivre auprès d'une jeune géante.

    I would have liked to live near a young giantess.

    Word by Word: I had liked to-live near of a young giantess.

    From Baudelaire. Here, 'j'eusse aimé' replaces the standard 'j'aurais aimé' to create a more poetic and elevated tone.

  2. S'il eût été plus court, toute la face de la terre en eût été changée.

    Had it been shorter, the whole face of the earth would have been changed by it.

    Word by Word: If it had been more short, all the face of the earth of-it had been changed.

    Pascal uses the second form in both the 'if' clause and the result clause. Note the mandatory circumflex on 'eût'.

  3. Sans ce retard, nous fussions arrivés à temps.

    Without this delay, we would have arrived on time.

    Word by Word: Without this delay, we were arrived at time.

    Uses 'être' as the auxiliary in the imperfect subjunctive form ('fussions') to replace 'serions arrivés'.

  4. Je ne l'eusse pas cru si je ne l'avais vu de mes propres yeux.

    I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

    Word by Word: I not it had not believed if I not it had seen of my own eyes.

    This demonstrates the second form ('eusse cru') being used in the main clause while a standard pluperfect is used in the 'si' clause.

Common Mistakes

  • Omitting the circumflex accent in the third person singular.

    S'il eut su la vérité, il serait venu.
    S'il eût su la vérité, il serait venu.

    Without the circumflex, 'eut' is the passé antérieur (indicative), which denotes a factual past action. The circumflex on 'eût' is required to signal the conditional/subjunctive mood (hypothesis).

  • Using the wrong auxiliary for verbs of movement.

    J'eusse allé à la fête.
    Je fusse allé à la fête.

    Just like the passé composé with être, the second-form past conditional must use 'être' for specific verbs of movement. 'Aller' requires 'je fusse' (imperfect subjunctive of être).

  • Forgetting past participle agreement with feminine or plural subjects.

    Elle fût allé au bal.
    Elle fût allée au bal.

    Standard past participle agreement rules apply. When using 'être' as the auxiliary, the participle must match the subject in gender and number.

How It Connects

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Literary second-form past conditionalLevel 6

Learn This First

The 'Conditionnel passé deuxième forme' is a high-level literary variant. To understand it, you must be familiar with the standard past conditional (which it replaces) and the pluperfect subjunctive (whose forms it borrows). It is typically encountered in formal literature within complex hypothetical sentences.