23 May 2008 - Written by Ronan

For those tricky conditionals here are some guidelines to help you.

The four main types of conditional are:

WILL - Condition (often called the 1st ‘conditional’)
- for FUTURE events.
- there is a REAL possibility that the condition will happen.
- use this for an intention or a prediction.

IF + present simple … (if-clause)
… WILL / WON’T verb… (main clause)

Examples:
(i) If I find your phone, I will tell you. (intention)
(ii) If you take the medicine, you‘ll feel better. (prediction)
(iii) If the train is late, we won’t arrive on time. (prediction)
(iv) I‘ll call you, if I have time. (intention)

WOULD - Condition (the ‘2nd conditional’)
- for PRESENT/FUTURE situations.
- the event is UNREAL or probably will not happen.
- use this to express imagination or give advice.

IF + past simple … (if-clause)
… WOULD / WOULDN’T verb … (main clause)

Examples:
(i) If I won the lottery, I would buy a new house. (imagination)
(ii) If I was you, I wouldn’t work for that company. (advice)
(iii) I would phone him if I knew his number. (unreal - I do not know his number)

WOULD-HAVE - Condition (the ‘3rd conditional’)
- for PAST situations only!
- the event is UNREAL, it did not happen!
- use this to explain or imagine a different past.

IF + past perfect … (if-clause)
… WOULD HAVE / WOULDN’T HAVE + past participle (main clause)

Examples:
(i) If I had seen you, I would have said hello. (I did not see you)
(ii) If I‘d known, I wouldn’t have asked you. (I did not know)
(iii) I would have rested, if we had been tired. (We were not tired)
(iv) If we had had time, we‘d have finished. (We did not have time to finish)

note:
We can use ‘d for had or would.

SIMPLE PRESENT Condition (sometimes called the ‘zero conditional’)
- for GENERAL situations ANY TIME
- usually TRUE, it always happens.
- use this for statements of fact

Examples:
(i) If I exercise too much, I get tired.
(ii) If it rains, it is a wet day.