répondriez

Répondriez is the second-person plural or formal second-person singular form of the French verb répondre, in the present conditional tense. In English, it corresponds to “you would answer” or “you would respond.” It is used to express a hypothetical or contingent action, to convey politeness, or to present a suggested or conditional scenario.

Grammatically, répondre is a regular -re verb, and the present conditional is formed with the stem raisonnably described as répondr- plus the usual conditional endings: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Therefore, the forms include je répondrais, tu répondrais, il répondrait, nous répondrions, vous répondriez, ils répondraient. The specific form répondriez matches the second-person form: vous répondriez (or, less commonly, vous répondriez in polite address).

Usage examples illustrate its conditional sense. For example: « Si vous aviez le temps, vous répondrez » is not correct in the conditional; the proper phrasing would be « Si vous aviez le temps, vous répondriez à mon message » to mean “If you had the time, you would answer my message.” Another example is: « Vous répondriez peut-être plus tard, si la réunion se prolonge. » This conveys a hypothetical or non-realized action.

In practice, répondez à quelqu’un with imperative is common, while répondriez is most typical in written or formal spoken French, reflecting conditional nuance rather than a definite action.