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Three principles underly the approach adopted in this paper: (i) mood is a basic feature of any statement with a conjugated verb, (ii), “attenuation” implies specific markers in the utterance to produce such an effect, (iii) any utterance comprising such markers combines representation of viewpoints with the expression of the speaker’s attitude towards them. We focus on viewpoints that constitute likely arguments in favor of a given type of conclusions. We also discuss the way in which there are represented by statements where the conditional is combined with pouvoir or devoir: indeed, the use of Tu aurais pu/dû descendre les poubelles is not only a way of alluding to Tu n’as pas descendu les poubelles, but also to the addressee’s obligations as well as his/her capacity of fulfilling them.