Conditional mood expresses uncertain or dependent actions. English uses “would” instead of a fully developed conditional mood. Conditional sentences have a protasis and apodosis. “Would” conveys the same sense as the conditional mood in other languages. Conditional verbs cannot be used in the protasis in most languages. Some languages use the conditional as a form of polite expression.
A grammatical mood is a verb form that expresses modes of action. In some languages, the conditional is used to describe circumstances that may or may not occur. English doesn’t have a fully developed conditional mood, but expresses the same idea using the modal verb “would”.
Conditional sentences are those that contain at least one statement that is false, uncertain, or dependent on another event. They often have two clauses, an “if” clause known as a protasis and a “then” clause called apodosis. For example, in the sentence “If you were nice to me, then I would be your friend,” the first sentence is protasis and the second is apodosis. The first sentence is in the subjunctive – “they were kind” – to show that it is against the facts. Also indicating a statement contrary to the facts, the apodosi uses the modal phrase, “would be”.
Some grammarians say that “would be” is in the conditional tense in English. Others, however, argue that since “would” is not conjugated, it is simply part of the indicative mood. Regardless of its exact grammatical classification, however, the word “would” conveys the same sense of the conditional mood in other languages. In French, je serais, which is conjugated in the conditional, is translated “I would like to be” and used in the apodosis of a conditional statement to indicate a statement contrary to fact.
Unlike the English verb “would”, however, conditional verbs in most languages cannot be used in the protasis. For example, in English you might say, “If you were on time, you could get all your work done.” Most Romance languages, however, would put the protasis of this sentence in the indicative or subjunctive.
Some languages use the conditional as a form of polite expression, rather than to describe true conditional statements. For example, the French je voudrais, “I wish,” might be used when ordering food at a restaurant. The form of this sentence is the same as that used in conditional sentences, although the meaning is different.
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