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Conditional Sentences

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Conditional Sentences

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amanouedohrene7486
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Conditional or Hypothetical Sentences

Note: a comma must be used after the if-clause when the if-clause precedes the main clause.

Conditional sentences are statements which discuss real factors or hypothetical situations and
their consequences. Complete conditional sentences include a conditional clause (often referred
to as the if-clause) and the consequence. The following sentences are illustrative.

Examples: If you are right, I will support you.

I would answer easily if I had more details.

Types of Conditional Sentences

There are generally three different types of conditional sentences in English. They are:

1. First Conditional Sentences


2. Second Conditional Sentences
3. Third Conditional Sentences
Each expresses a different degree of probability that a situation will occur, would occur or would
have occurred under certain circumstances.

1. First Conditional Sentences

First conditional sentences are used to express situations in which the outcome is likely (but not
sure) to happen in the future.

If you learn hard, you will surely succeed.


If Ayoko listens to people, she will not be into trouble.

Note: Keep in mind that the simple present tense is used in the if-clause and simple future tense
in the main clause, the clause that expresses the likely outcome. This is how the speaker indicates
that under a certain condition (as expressed in the if-clause), a specific result will likely take
place in the future.

Form: If + simple present + simple future.

2. Second Conditional Sentences

Second conditional sentences are useful for expressing outcomes that are completely unrealistic
or will not likely take place in the future.

Examples: If I owned a plot of land, I would build a school.

If my parents went to the village, I would listen to the music.

1
Note: 1. If the verb in the „if clause‟ is “to be,” use “were,” even if the subject of the clause is a
first or third person singular subject (I, he, she, it).

Example: If Donato were a rich man, I would make more charitable donations.
Were I there, I would help them

2. The correct structure of the second conditional sentences is to use the simple past tense in the
if-clause and an auxiliary modal verb (would, could, should, might) in the main clause (the one
that expresses the unrealistic or unlikely outcome).

Form: If + Simple Past + would + Infinitive

3. Third Conditional Sentences

Third conditional sentences are used to explain that present condition would be different if
something different had happened in the past. It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled
because it refers to the past.

Examples: If I had not broken my leg, I would have taken part in the contest.
We would have walked to the museum if it had not started to rain.
If I had found his address, I would have sent him a wedding invitation.
Had I been at the meeting, I would not have voted him.

Note: When we use the third conditional, we use the past perfect (i.e., had + past participle) in
the if-clause. The modal auxiliary (would, could, should, etc.) + have + past participle in the
main clause expresses the theoretical situation that could have happened.

Form: If + Past Perfect + would + have + Past Participle.

NOTE

There is a fourth type of conditional sentence called zero conditional sentences.

Zero conditional sentences express general truths, occasions or situations in which one
thing always causes another. When using the zero conditional, the correct tense to use in both
clauses is the simple present tense. A common mistake is to use the simple future tense.

Form: If + simple present + simple present.

Example: If you don‟t eat timely, you get ulcers.


When people read a lot, they discover new things.

General Note: The words if and when can be used interchangeably in these zero conditional
sentences.

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