Verrais is in the “Conditionnel present” form – which means it says “I would see if…”
Aha, someone who can read French more competently than perhaps 99% of the people who have read the novel from which Tsuwm was quoting. [And, incidentally, I would be amongst them if I had read the novel.]
You seem to have pierced the veil here, belMarduk.
In the novel, someone asks some else to come up with the opposite of "deja vu". That person's answer is a guess, "I don't know -- avant verrais", a guess by someone quite possibly as incompetent in French as someone like myself.
The author can be excused for the flawed French because it's just a novel and the truth the author is representing is the truth of the character who answers the question, not the truth of the answer itself.
Perhaps "avant verrais" is a more 'truthful' answer in this sense, coming from someone who is guessing with only a rudimentary knowledge of French, than a properly translated stab at the opposite of "deja vu".
Now, here's the best part:
The person who asked the question says "That's it" to "avant verrais". That is exactly what that person would say even if they were fluent in French because, in French, "avant verrais" sounds exactly the same as "avant verrai".
In the result, the author has been true to both characters.
And BelMaruk has come up with the correct French and the correct explanation. Congratulations, BelMarduk.
It seems all our speculations about "avant verrais" were much adieu about nothing.
