185. The old conditional came from the Latin pluperfect indicative,
which had been supplanted in its pluperfect sense by a compound
form, and was gradually restricted in its use to the functions of a
preterit, a perfect conditional, and a simple conditional: see § 141,
(2). In Provençal it had only the conditional meaning; and as the new
conditional rendered it superfluous, it fell into disuse (with the
exception of ágra and fọra) in the 13th and 14th centuries: see § 142,
(2).
186. In the fourth conjugation the old conditional comes from the
contracted form of the pluperfect (_audīram_ ＜ _audīvĕram_). Weak verbs
of the third conjugation constructed a similar form (✱_vendęram_).
First conjugation verbs started with the contracted pluperfect
(_amāram_ ＜ _amāvĕram_), but in Provençal substituted ę for á, as in
the preterit: § 175, (4). The Provençal types of the old conditional of
weak verbs are, therefore, represented by: amęra, vendęra, auzíra. The
inflection is as follows:--
amęra amerám
amęras amerátz
amęra amęran
auzíra auzirám
auzíras auzirátz
auzíra auzíran
187. Strong verbs of the _-ī_ and the _-uī_ classes regularly took
their old conditional directly from the Latin pluperfect: _fēcĕram_
＞ fẹira, _fŭĕram_ ＞ fọra, _vīdĕram_ ＞ vira; _habŭĕram_ ✱_áβwĕram_
(§ 16, 2) ＞ ágra, _pŏtŭĕram_ ＞ pǫgra, _vŏlŭĕram_ ＞ vǫlgra, _sapŭĕram_
＞ sáubra sáupra (§ 65, P, 3). Of course the Latin pluperfect, and
therefore the Provençal conditional, followed the shift of the perfect
if it changed from one class to another: _vēnī_ ＞ ✱_vēnuī_, hence
✱_vēnŭĕram_ ＞ vẹngra. The inflection is as follows:--
fọra forám ágra agrám
fọras forátz forás ágras agrátz agrás
fọra fọran ágra ágran