The Zero Conditional

- Hi there, I'm your English coach Christina

and welcome to speak English with Christina

where you'll learn American culture and business know how

to become confident in English.

Conditionals in English can be more complex than you think.

There's the zero conditional, first, second,

third conditional, mixed conditionals and if you know these,

you are a superstar in English, see what I did there?

That's the zero conditional.

It's the easiest one and it's the focus

of our episode today.

So, what exactly is the zero conditional?

How does it work and how can you use it?

Well, let's go.

(upbeat rock music)

(upbeat jazz music)

Grammatically speaking, the zero conditional

is the simplest of all.

It works like this.

If, plus a sentence with the verb in the present tense

then a verb in the present.

For instance, if you add two plus two, then you get four

and you can even take out the then

if you add two plus two, you get four.

But, you can see that in both part of the sentence,

we have the present tense.

If you add present tense, you get present tense, four.

Here's some more examples and notice, that the present tense

is in both parts of each example.

For example, if the tea is too hot, ah, it burns your mouth.

If I go in the sun for too long, I get a sunburn

and that's true.

If I don't exercise for a few days, (groans) I get grumpy.

Yeah, and that's true as well.

See how easy that is.

It's all in the present tense.

(upbeat jazz music)

So, how does the zero conditional work?

Well, this English structure

is used for logical consequences.

It's a conditional structure that you can use

when the consequence is always connected to the cause.

There's no maybe, no hope, no fear,

it's just a fact basically.

The zero conditional deals

with generalities and definitions.

If an animal has two legs and no feathers,

then it's a human, according to Plato.

And, when someone uses you, with the zero conditional,

it's as a general you as a human being.

It's not addressed to you, specifically,

as an individual person.

And, if that's confusing for you,

then you can replace it with somebody in your head.

Let me show you.

If you speak another language,

you can talk to more people.

Now, I'm not talking about you, specifically, necessarily,

but, about people in general.

So, let's replace you with somebody.

If somebody speaks another language,

they can talk to more people.

So, the zero conditional is for facts and generalities.

(upbeat jazz music)

So, how can you use the zero conditional?

Like, in what situations is it common

to use this structure?

In everyday life, you can use the zero conditional

to give details, truths and definitions,

like, if a bird quacks like a duck and swims like a duck,

it is a duck.

(duck quacking)

If a star gets old and bright enough,

it becomes a supernova.

That's for you science geeks out there.

And, if you practice your English, you become more confident

and that's for all

of you fantastic English learners out there.

You can also use the zero conditional to give warnings

because you describe the terrible consequences

of an action that someone does,

and using the zero conditional to do this actually makes

the warning, less personal, less directed at the person

that you're talking to.

So, you're not implying that

they would intentionally do any harm.

You're just stating a fact, for example,

oh, by the way, if you close the door,

it locks automatically.

Just so you know.

Or, if too many people log in at the same time,

the system crashes.

Yeah, we should maybe fix that.

Colloquially, you can also use the zero conditional

with opinions or your own decisions, but, careful,

because the zero conditional can make them sound

much more abrupt and definitive.

And, perhaps, this is the effect that you want.

I mean it all depends on the situation,

your relation to the person

and how you want to position yourself

when you're speaking to them.

If you wanna sound firm and direct,

the zero conditional helps you to do this.

For example, maybe a terrible boss would say,

well, yeah, you know my rules,

if you're not on call 24/7, you get fired.

And then, an angry employee might respond,

well, if you don't respect my personal time, I quit.

And now, you're done with the zero conditional.

So, here's your recap.

For the tenses and the structures, if, plus present tense,

then, plus present tense,

and you can use then or you can drop it.

It makes no difference.

And, we use the zero conditional for generalities,

definitions and logical consequences that always happen.

And, you can also use it for impersonal warnings

in your everyday life.

(upbeat jazz music)

Now, tell me, can you make a sentence

with the zero conditional?

Start typing in the comments below with if,

and then complete, with your own zero conditional statement.

You'll make sure that you really understand how it works

and it's a great way to practice your English.

And, if you would like to become more fluent,

more confident and work with one of my expert teachers,

then check out my new program, Speak English Confidently.

It combines private training sessions

with regular conversation practice,

so that you speak more correct English, more fluidly.

Details are below the video.

Thanks so much for improving your English with me

and I'll see you next time.