Conditionals 0, 1, 2, 3 & Mixed Conditionals | English Grammar Lesson | B2-Upper Intermediate

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Hello and welcome everyone to this presentation  which is about Conditional sentences. Let me  

share my screen with you and show you what  we'll be doing in this lesson. We're going  

to look at some common mistakes with Conditionals.  There are five mistakes that I often come across  

when I read things you write or listen to you  speak, and these are: 1) using 'when' instead  

of 'if', 2) using 'will' or 'would' in the 'if'  Clause, 3) mixing conditionals 1 and 2, 4) not  

mixing conditionals 2 and 3 when needed, and 5)  using 'was' instead of 'were' in Conditional 2.  

But before we get round to looking at these  mistakes, let's do a little revision of the  

four types of conditional sentences that you are  familiar with, starting with conditional 0. First,  

looking at the formulation: in the 'if' clause,  you put Present Simple, so if + Present Simple,  

and Present Simple again in the 'consequence'  clause. Now Conditional 0 is about something,  

a situation, which is always true. It's not about  a specific situation now or in the past. For  

example, here's a very funny and common saying:  If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. This is true  

for everyone all the time. It's a general fact.  That's conditional 0. Let's look at conditional  

1 and see what's the difference. Conditional 1 for  formulation is again: if + Present Simple and then  

Future Simple usually in the 'consequence' clause.  The difference is that Conditional 1 refers to a  

specific real and current situation, and when  it's conditional 1, there is a high probability  

of the action in the 'if' clause. For example: If  I need money next year, I will sell my car.' So,  

there is a good chance, there is maybe a 50/50  or more probability, that you will need money  

next year. That's number 1. Now, what's the  difference with conditional 2? First of all,  

the formulation is very different. it's: if + Past  Subjunctive and then in the 'consequence' clause,  

you need 'would do'. Here again, this is  a specific situation. It's not general  

like Conditional 0, but it's hypothetical. It's  not real, and the very big difference between 2  

and 1 is that the probability of the action in  the 'if' clause is zero or very very low. So,  

if you say 'if I needed money next year, I would  sell my car.', the listener understands that  

there is a very low or almost zero probability  that you will need money next year. That's the  

very important difference between 1 and  2. And finally, coming to Conditional 3,  

the formulation is if + Past Perfect (had done)  and then the 'consequence' clause is 'would have  

done'. Again, this is a specific situation, but  now it's completely in the past. There is zero  

possibility of the action in the 'if' clause.  For example: If I had needed money last year,  

I would have sold my car.' You didn't need  money, and you didn't sell your car. It's  

completely hypothetical, and it's over. It's in  the past. Right, so before we look at the five  

common mistakes I mentioned earlier, there are two  notes to make that you have to be careful of. The  

first one is that the 'if' clause can be in the  first or second part of the sentence. So, make  

sure you identify which one is the 'if' clause and  which one is the 'consequence' clause correctly,  

because sometimes I notice that you get the ...  or some students have got the idea that, the first  

part is always with Present Simple and the second  part with 'will'. No! make sure you find out where  

the 'if' clause is and then apply the correct  tense or form to the 'if' clause and then the  

'consequence' clause. For example: If I need money  next year, I will sell my car. You can also say:  

I will sell my car if I need money next year.  And notice that for spelling, for punctuation,  

if you start with the 'if' clause you need a comma  between the two clauses, but if you start with the  

'consequence' clause, you don't. That's Note 1.  Note 2: also very important! When we talk about  

high, low, or zero probability in Conditional  sentences 1, 2, and 3, we're talking about the  

probability of the action in the 'if' clause: how  possible or likely or probable the 'if' action  

is. If you want to change the probability  of the action in the 'consequence' clause,  

you need to use modal verbs of possibility instead  of 'will' and 'would'. Let's take our examples and  

change 'will' and 'would' to 'may', 'might', or  'could'. For example: If I need money next year,  

maybe I will, maybe I won't (50/50 chance): I may  sell my car, I might sell my car, I could sell my  

car. The consequence is now not 100% sure. It's  a possibility. We can do the same with the Second  

Conditional: I might or could sell my car if I  needed money next year. Same with Conditional 3:  

I might or could have sold my car if I had needed  money last year. Notice one important thing is  

that 'may' is only used in Conditional 1. And, as  you can see, we can only use might and could in  

conditionals 2 and 3 in the consequence clause.  Okay. That's the revision of the most important  

points about Conditionals in general. Let's look  at, now, the common mistakes. The first one is  

using 'when' instead of 'if'. Remember that we can  only use 'when' instead of 'if' in a conditional  

0 sentence. So, you can say: If you pay peanuts  you get monkeys. Or: When you pay peanuts, you get  

monkeys.' because it's always true. But, please  be sure not to use 'when' instead of 'if' in  

other Conditional sentences because this changes  the idea completely. For example, when you, in  

conditional 1, when you say 'if I need money', you  are not sure you will need money, maybe you will,  

maybe you won't. Whereas, if you say 'when I  need money', you are sure that you will soon  

need money. Same with conditional 2. If you say  'if I needed money', actually you're saying at the  

moment, now, I don't, and I don't think I will  in the future. I'm hypothesizing: 'if I needed  

money'. But, when you say 'when I needed money',  you're actually referring to a time in the past  

when you needed money. So the difference is huge  and can be confusing to your listener if you mix  

'if' and 'when'. Only in conditional zero! Right,  number 2: That's a very common one, and it's for  

formulation. It's a formulation mistake, and that  is using 'will' or 'would' in the 'if' clause. I  

often hear: If I will need money next year, I will  sell my car. Make sure that you do not use 'will'  

in the 'if' clause for the First Conditional. The  mistake for the Second Conditional would be to  

say: If I would need money next year, I would ...  So two 'would's or two 'will's. Avoid that! It's,  

in conditional 2: if I needed (Past Subjunctive)  money next year, I would sell my car. And the same  

for Conditional 3: I would have sold my car if  I, NOT 'would have needed' but 'if I had needed'  

money last year. So, avoid two ''will's or two  would's on both sides of the sentence. Okay! Now:  

two notes on this common mistake. It's important  for you to know so you don't get confused. Note 1:  

In American English, you may occasionally hear  'would' in the 'if' clause in Conditionals 2  

and 3. This is not Standard English, and, it's  a mistake, a grammatical mistake,. But, some  

American speakers do it. So, don't be surprised,  but I'd recommend you avoid it. Follow the rules  

that we have just reviewed. Okay, now one other  note here is that, very rarely, but you will,  

you may hear 'will' or 'would' after 'if' to  make a Conditional 1 sentence more polite. It  

happens only in situations like this: If you will  wait here please, I'll call you taxi. It's a very  

polite invitation to someone to do something.  Actually, it sounds rather formal. So, again,  

I would avoid this structure, or you can hear it,  but don't try and use it. A better alternative in  

a situation when you want to be polite is to use  'would like': If you'd like to wait here please,  

I'll call you a taxi, because 'would like' means  'want'. It's not the actual use of 'would'. It's  

for politeness. Oka, number 3. Number 3 is mixing  Conditionals 1 and 2. Again, I often hear this,  

and I want to ask you to avoid it because when  you, or if you, mix conditionals 1 and 2, your  

listener will not know if you're talking about  a real or high probability or a hypothetical or  

low probability. A typical mistake I hear is: If I  have time, I would join you. Now, if I hear this,  

I'm confused. I have no idea if you are likely to  join me or unlikely. So, be consistent. Be clear:  

If I have time, I will join you. And the  listener understands that there is a high  

probability that you will have time to join  them. Or, if the probability is zero or very low,  

then stick to the Second Conditional: If I had  time, I would join you.' It means there is zero or  

low probability. Actually you are saying: I can't  basically join you. The formulation 'if + should  

do' is an alternative form of conditional 1, not  conditional 2, so make sure you use 'will' not  

'would' in the 'consequence' clause. For example,  'if I should need money' is the same as 'if I need  

money'. It's just a little more formal, and it's  slightly less probable: If I should need money,  

I will sell my car, NOT 'I would'. Okay, yes,  finally number 4. We've got two left! Just bear  

with me! Number 4: not mixing Conditionals  2 and 3 when needed. Remember that sometimes  

the consequence of a present fact can be in  the past and vice versa. For example ... No,  

let's look at the formulation first. So the  consequence of a present fact is in the past.  

We need to mix Conditionals 2 and 3. So it's: if +  Past Subjunctive (the if clause of Conditional 2)  

and 'would have done' (the 'consequence' clause  of Conditional 3). Example: She is a liar. So,  

someone is a liar. It's a fact, and now we're  imagining, we're hypothesizing: If she were not  

such a big liar, we wouldn't have got into trouble  yesterday. The consequence of her being a liar,  

which is still true, happened yesterday: they got  into trouble. So, you have this mismatch. Right,  

and the opposite can happen as well, and that's  when the consequence of a past action is in  

the present. So now, we need to use the Past  Perfect, which is Conditional 3, in the 'if'  

clause and then the 'consequence' clause will  be Conditional 2: 'would do'. So, for example:  

If she had told the truth yesterday, we would  not be in this mess now.' So, it's the other way  

round. Right, so you do need to always think of  the context as well. I's not always mechanical:  

this > this. This doesn't happen very often,  but you have to be careful if it does: how to  

mix them correctly. And finally, mistake number  5 is using 'was' instead of 'were' in Conditional  

2. Remember the formulation of Conditional 2 is  if + Past Subjunctive and then the consequence:  

would do. It's really not Past Simple although  we say that sometimes. Why do we say that? It's  

because the Past Subjunctive in English has the  same form as the Past Simple except for the verb  

'be'. The Past Subjunctive of 'be' is 'were' for  all pronouns, and that's where we notice that  

Conditional 2 is not if + Past Simple. It's if +  Past Subjunctive. But, they're the same, exactly  

the same, form except the verb 'be'. So, that's  why a sentence would be: 'if I were younger',  

not 'if I was younger': If I were younger, I  would climb the Himalayas. And the same goes  

for the alternative form of Conditional 2, which  is: If she were to climb the Himalayas, she would  

need a good guide. So basically, we're saying:  Don't use 'was' in Conditional 2 sentences. But,  

don't be surprised if you hear this mistake  from many native speakers because, as you know,  

they don't study grammar, as we are at the moment  together. They just go by ear, and it is becoming  

a common mistake in both British and American  English to use 'was' instead of 'were', but again,  

I would recommend that you avoid it. Stick to the  rules. You will always be correct and confident  

in your sentences, but don't be surprised if  you occasionally hear these varieties. Right,  

that's the end of the presentation. I hope it  has helped you get a better grasp of Conditional  

sentences. You may need to watch this presentation  a few times and make some notes for yourself for  

everything to get assimilated. Thanks a lot for  watching. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson.  

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