Stage 4 · A2+–B1
Conditional for politeness — practise and choose the right form
Use the French conditional for polite requests in everyday service, work and phone situations.
1. Objective
By the end, you will reformulate a direct request with je voudrais or pourriez-vous.
2. I discover
Compare in a café: Je veux l’addition. / Je voudrais l’addition, s’il vous plaît. Which is more suitable for a polite request?
3. I understand
The conditional can soften a request: Je veux un café is direct; Je voudrais un café is more polite. Other common forms include pourriez-vous, aimeriez-vous and serait-il possible de…
The conditional does not make every sentence polite by itself: greetings, s’il vous plaît, merci and tone still matter.
4. Guided practice
5. Independent practice
6. I write / I speak
Produce three new sentences that use the target feature precisely, then explain what you applied.
7. Check my learning
8. What I remember
Useful forms: je voudrais…, j’aimerais…, pourriez-vous…?, serait-il possible de…?
9. Now I can…
- I can recognise the feature in a new example.
- I can reuse it in a meaningful sentence.
