Breakdown of Nous aurions saisi une autre opportunité.
une
a / an (feminine)
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
avoir
to have
autre
other
saisir
to seize
l'opportunité
the opportunity (f)
Questions & Answers about Nous aurions saisi une autre opportunité.
How do we form the past conditional in this sentence?
To form the past conditional (meaning "would have done something"), you use the conditional present of the auxiliary verb, which is either avoir or être, and add the past participle of the main verb. Here, we use aurions (the conditional of avoir for nous) plus saisi (the past participle of saisir).
Why is the past participle saisi and not saisis to match nous?
Because this verb uses avoir as its auxiliary, the past participle does not agree with the subject. It would only change if there were a direct object placed before the verb. Since the direct object (une autre opportunité) comes after the verb, saisi remains unchanged.
Is opportunité exactly the same as the English word "opportunity"?
Often yes, especially in modern business contexts, but be careful! In traditional French, une occasion is usually the better translation for a general chance or opportunity to do something. Opportunité historically means "timeliness" or "appropriateness", though the English meaning is very commonly accepted now.
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