Breakdown of Ce serait une société où la paix et l'égalité existeraient.
être
to be
ce
it / this (with être)
et
and
où
where
Questions & Answers about Ce serait une société où la paix et l'égalité existeraient.
How is the conditional formed for serait?
Serait comes from the verb être (to be). To make the conditional, you use its irregular future stem, which is ser-, and add the il/elle/on imperfect ending -ait.
How is the conditional formed for existeraient?
Existeraient comes from the regular verb exister (to exist). For regular -er verbs, the conditional stem is just the full infinitive (exister). Then you add the ils/elles imperfect ending -aient because the subject is two things: peace and equality (they).
Why does the French sentence use the conditional (existeraient) if the English translation just says "exist"?
In English, we often switch back to the present tense ("where peace and equality exist") after setting up a hypothetical idea ("It would be"). French is more strictly logical here: since the society is hypothetical (Ce serait), what happens inside it is also hypothetical. Therefore, French uses the conditional (existeraient - would exist) for both verbs.
Why are there definite articles before peace and equality (la paix et l'égalité)?
In English, we usually leave out "the" when talking about general or abstract concepts like peace, time, or equality. In French, you cannot leave the noun bare; you must use definite articles (le, la, l', les) for these general ideas.