FRENCH NOTE 54. " USE OF SI"
It would be very useful to use the French word " SI" which means " IF " in English , in different ways. You should know that " SI" means " Yes " also. While answering negative questions affirmatively , French people use ' si" instead of " oui" . But we are not concerned with that here. " si" has another meaning . It dénotes intensity Here we are concerned only with its meaning as " IF". Ok ?
1. Si + Present + Future.
The above construction is very simple . It is also quite useful. In these sentences ,there are two clauses . The first clause starts with " si" giving a hypothetical situation . The second clause tells what happens with a given condition or hypothesis .
Si je suis riche, j'achèterai une belle maison.
If I am rich , I will buy a beautiful house.
Si ma cousine vient chez moi, je l'emmènerai au cinéma .
If my cousin comes to my place, I will take her out to a film.
Si tu travaille tous les jours, tu gagneras des bonnes notes.
If you study everyday , you will get good marks.
Si vous me donnez ₹10000, je vendrai mon ordinateur.
If you give me ₹ 10000, I will sell this computer.
Remaŕk : In colloquial French , even the second clause can be in the present tense.
2.Si+ présent + impératif
1. Si vous voulez parler à mon père , venez ce dimanche .
If you want to talk to my father, come this Sunday .
2. Si vous voulez cette voiture, donnez- moi ₹ 300000,
If you want this car, give me ₹ 300000.
3. Si + imparfait + conditionnel présent
If one thing happens , some other thing may happen . When you want to express such an eventuality , you can use the above construction .
Si mon père avait de l'argent , il m'achèterait une voiture.
If my father had money, he would get me a car.
Si j'étais fort en maths, je m'inscrirais au cours d'informatique .
If I were strong in maths, I would join the computer course.
S'il ne pleuvait pas , je sortirais avec vous.
If there were no rain, I would go out with you.
Remarks : though we use " imparfait " ,the sense of these clauses is that of future.
4. SI + plus que parfait ( indicatif) + conditionnel passé
If in the past one thing had happened, another thing would have happened. But the first thing did not happen. So the second thing also did not happen. To express such an eventuality, we can use the above construction . This is an imaginary past situation.
Si Martin n'avait pas pris le vol 121, il n'aurait pas perdu sa vie.
If Martin had not taken flight 121, he would not have lost his life.
Si vous aviez suivi mon conseil, vous n'auriez pas regretté votre décision .
If you had followed my advice, you would not have regretted your decision.
Si je n'avais pas été malade, je serais allé(e) à Chennai .
If I had not been ill, I would have gone to Chennai.
Remember , you can put the si clause in the second position . That would not change the meaning. Hope these constructions are clear to you now.
Happy learning !
ATTENTION
If learners send me by email few sentences which they construct, I will do corrections and send them back. If there are any inadvertent errors in this note, point out pl. I am doing several things and am likely to commit some errors.
Sayee Jayaraman
27/02/2015
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