Category Archives: Conditional

Conditional

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** Conditional Sentence:

What are conditionals in English grammar? Sometimes we call them ‘if clauses’. They describe the result of something that might happen (in the present or future) or might have happened but didn’t (in the past) . They are made using different English verb tenses.

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# There are four kinds of conditionals:

  • The Zero Conditional:
    (if + present simple, … present simple)
    If you heat water to 100 degrees, it boils.
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  • The First Conditional:
    (if + present simple, … will + infinitive)
    If it rains tomorrow, we’ll go to the cinema.
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  • The Second Conditional:
    (if + past simple, … would + infinitive)
    If I had a lot of money, I would travel around the world.
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  • The Third Conditional
    (if + past perfect, … would + have + past participle)
    If I had gone to bed early, I would have caught the train.
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(Notice we can put ‘if’ at the beginning, or in the middle. It doesn’t matter at all.)

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# Some more examples:

  • If I were a king, I would love people.
  • If I were a good player, I would be  happy.
  • If he had come to me, I could have given him the address.

# More: free ebook (PDF)

1: Part of the third conditional.

  • If I had had enough money, I would have bought a car (but I didn’t have enough money, so I didn’t buy a car).

2: Because ‘would’ (and will) can also be used to show if you want to do something or not (volition), we can also use would have + past participle to talk about something you wanted to do but didn’t. This is very similar to the third conditional, but we don’t need an ‘if clause’.

  • I would have gone to the party, but I was really busy.
    (= I wanted to go to the party, but I didn’t because I was busy. If I hadn’t been so busy, I would have gone to the party.)
  • I would have called you, but I didn’t know your number.
    (= I wanted to call you but I didn’t know your number, so I didn’t call you.)
  • A: Nobody volunteered to help us with the fair
    B: I would have helped you. I didn’t know you needed help.
    (= If I had known that you needed help, I would have helped you.)

# Link:

# Collected from Teacher Josephine…PDF