Start Using the 2nd Conditional in Real English Conversations

So, if I asked you to tell me everything there

is to know about the second conditional, what

would you say?

You would probably say, "Well, I know you use 'if', I know you use the past simple,

'if I did', 'if I had', 'if I could', and

in the second part, I use 'would', or 'maybe

could', or 'maybe might', so, "I would", "I could", "I might".

Okay, but how do you actually use it in daily life?

How do you use it every day at work, or at school, or on the street?

That's what this video is really about, because

there is one thing to, you know, understand

the grammar, understand the theory of a grammar

point, and it's another thing to actually

use it in your daily life.

So, we will review some of the basics of

the second conditional in the second part of

this video, but I am making this video with the idea that you are already familiar with

the fundamentals of the second conditional, and we're just going to jump in and look at

some everyday common phrases and sentences that you can use with it.

So, first of all, first of all, the second

conditional, as you know, is for hypothetical

situations.

It's the unreal conditional.

It is about imagined realities, or I like to call these potential realities, because

all of the sentences, or the majority of the

sentences we look at today, we'll talk about

potential realities.

So, for example, two common structures with the second conditional, it would be blank

adjective if, so for example, it would be nice to see you, right?

Like, if that were an option, if that could happen, it would be nice to see you.

So, maybe someone invites you to a birthday party, it's their birthday party, and they

say, "Come on, it's this Saturday."

It would be nice.

It would be great.

It would make my day to see you.

Now, what you notice here is that when you

use a second conditional sentence, you don't

always need to use the "if" clause.

Like, the "if" clause is implied, right?

You don't have to say, "It would be nice to see you if you could come to my birthday."

You can just say, "It would be nice to see you."

Or, again, if I invite you to my birthday,

and I say, "Ah, it would be great if you could

come."

So, here we have the "if" clause, but as you

can see, it's not totally necessary, and this

is a key part of this video.

So, repeat after me.

It would be nice to see you.

It would be great if you could come.

And again, another sister phrase to "it would

be" adjective is "that would be" adjective.

So, for example, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Oh, yes, that would be great.

Thanks."

So, again, I haven't gotten you anything to

drink, so this is a potential thing that could

still happen.

It's kind of in an imagined future, right?

So, that would be great.

That would be nice.

That would be kind of you.

Thank you so much.

So, you have two phrases here already, right away.

It would be and that would be.

So, it would be nice.

That would be great.

That would be awesome.

That would be amazing.

It would be terrible if that happened, or it

would be terrible if she quit, for example.

Or, "Oh, that would be terrible."

Okay, so you're already seeing, we're imagining realities.

Okay, another way to say, yes, yeah, yeah, we're still here.

We're still here.

Okay.

"If" plus the subject plus "were to".

So, when you use the "were to" structure in the

second conditional in English, most explanations

will tell you that this is for situations that are probably impossible, like that are

really, really unlikely.

So, I like to think of these phrases like, "If

I were to do something" as testing potential

realities.

You're testing the possibility of something.

So, for example, okay, we're sitting with my boss.

We're in the office.

We're at work.

Okay.

If we were to hire another person, what qualities would we be looking for?

So, you're testing the potential future, the

potential reality of like, okay, if we were

to do this, what would we want?

What would happen?

What would you say?

So, let me give you another example, and maybe I'll use one that's not a question.

So, if I say, okay, "If I were", now, this is just hypothetical, and I'm not going to

move to another country, but if I were to move to another country, I would probably

move to Poland.

Yeah, it would probably be Poland where I was born.

If I were to move to another country, I would probably move to Poland.

If you were to move to another country, where would you move?

Just imagine.

I'm just saying.

And speaking of just saying, another way to say "if you were to" is "let's say".

This is like saying, okay, let's imagine.

We're just...

This is just a hypothetical situation.

Let's imagine.

Let's say.

Let's say you could have any phone in the world.

Which one would you choose?

I'm just saying.

Just let's say.

Let's imagine, okay?

Let's say you lost your job tomorrow.

What would you do?

Right?

Would you cry?

Would you immediately look for a new job?

Would you go talk to your friends and ask them what to do?

So, here's another way.

Again, potential realities, imagined

situations, unreal situations, hypotheticals.

Now, what's interesting about the second conditional

and these types of sentences is you can actually

substitute the first conditional in some of these as well.

It just depends on the level of confidence you have.

So, for example, here.

So, here, again, let's repeat this one.

Let's say you lost your job tomorrow.

What would you do?

You are...

Here's reality.

You're taking a step back from reality, okay?

You're like, let's say you lost your job.

Okay.

You can say, let's say you lose your job tomorrow.

Oh, no.

Now it feels more real.

If I say, let's say you lose your job.

What will you do?

So, it depends on like your level of confidence

and how close you want to get to like the

real situation.

If you just want to exist in this space of

potential reality, of unreality, use the second

conditional.

It allows you to play with possibilities, and it can even be a little more gentle or

polite when you're speaking to a person.

And instead of saying, let's say you lose your job.

What will you do?

Let's say you lost your job.

What would you do?

So, you can feel the difference there.

Okay.

How are you doing?

This is good, right?

Yeah.

I know it's good.

I made it.

I know.

Okay.

I have way more for you.

So, let's go.

Okay.

So, we are going to continue with this idea of the implied if.

So, you don't always need to use an if clause

in a second conditional question or a sentence

even.

So, for example, we have the structure of "would" plus the subject.

You can add "ever".

Not necessary.

There are so many different constructions.

Let's look at some of them now.

So, would you ever consider getting plastic surgery?

It's a question.

Okay.

So, would you ever think about this?

What about if your friend were thinking about

moving because, I don't know, they want to

buy a house, and they look around and all of the houses in their area are expensive?

This is a reality for many people.

And you say, well, would you ever consider moving to another state?

Like, if that were an option.

Like, that's the implied condition.

The implied if is if that were an option, would you consider it?

Okay.

Next, would you be available for a movie this weekend?

Of course, you can ask, are you available?

Are you free?

If you want to take a step back, would you be available for a movie this weekend?

And implied is if I asked you, right?

If I asked you, would you be available for a movie this weekend?

Next, do you think he would say no?

And again, if I asked him.

So, do you think he would say no if I asked him to borrow money, for example?

So, yeah, do you think he would say no?

Next, here we have, this is a tag question.

So, she wouldn't lie about something like that, would she?

Like, if she had the opportunity to lie about

it, she wouldn't lie about it, would she?

I don't think she would lie, but I'm not sure.

So, yeah, again, here you have second conditional being used in a tag question.

How cool is that?

Okay.

Next, I'm going to give you some formal structures.

You can use these in speech.

These are also common in email, in professional writing, in academic writing.

So, we have some questions here.

And again, you can answer these as well.

They don't just exist in questions.

We have three phrases that replace "if", basically.

So, assuming that, provided that, in the event that.

So, assuming that a better position became

available at your company, would you take it?

Like, if a better position became available.

If we assume, if we accept, you know, if this is something that happens.

Next.

Provided that you didn't have to worry about food,

would you be willing to live on an island all by yourself?

So, this is more the true spirit of the second conditional, which is just

total hypothetical situation, right?

Like, you're just imagining scenarios.

Like, if you lived on an island where the food was provided, would you do it?

All by yourself?

I don't know if I would.

I don't know if I would do that.

Okay.

And finally, in the event that you died, who would get all your possessions?

So, this is a question that adults ask themselves at one point or another,

because you have to think about, okay, what's going to happen after I die?

So, in the event means, like, if this

happened, if this situation, event happened,

in the event that you died, who would get all your possessions?

Okay.

We have some good stuff here, and we have one more board to look at.

I'm going to give you a ton of common sentences and common questions that we have

and that we use in daily life with the second conditional.

So, let's do that now.

Okay.

So, this is the part where you listen and repeat,

and we have some sentences that you can hear,

you will hear in everyday common situations.

So, "If I had more time, I could finish the project."

Or, "If I had more time, I would call you."

Or, "If I had more time, I would do something."

So, "What would you do today if you had more time?"

Like, more free time.

"Well, if I knew..."

This is very common.

So, "If I knew his number, I would just tell you his number."

"If I knew the address, I could go there today, but I don't know the address."

But, "If I knew the address, I could go there."

Or, "I might go there."

Just like...

Next one.

"I would love that."

Right?

This is similar to, "That would be great."

"I would love that."

"I would enjoy that if that were to happen."

"If that happened."

I wouldn't say that.

Okay?

So, if someone says something...

If you're in a conversation, and you're going

back and forth, and you say, "Yeah, yeah,

this, this, this."

And your friend says, "Yeah, yeah, and this, this, this."

And you say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."

I wouldn't say that.

So, I wouldn't say that.

That's not something I would say about this situation or that person.

"Would you tell me if you knew?"

So, again, you're having a conversation.

Maybe your friend has a secret they don't want to tell you, and you're like, "I think

you know something."

It's like, "Would you tell me if you knew?"

Like, if you knew this information, you're testing your friend's loyalty, in a way.

Your friend would say, "Yeah, I would tell you."

Or maybe they would say, "No, I wouldn't tell you if I knew anyway."

So, it's like, "Oh, okay.

Your friend has a reason for keeping a secret, maybe."

Next, you can also use the second conditional

to give advice, to say, "If I were you."

I'm not you, but if I were you, I would, I might.

If I were you, I would get another job, or I would buy a new pair of shoes,

or I would think about moving to another city, or I might do something else.

Okay, and you can also say, "You wouldn't say that if..."

Like, if you were in my shoes, if you were

in my position, you wouldn't say that if you

knew the truth.

Right?

If you knew the truth, you wouldn't say that.

Okay?

So, before we move to the second part of the board, repeat after me.

We'll just say the first part here.

If I had more time.

If I knew his number.

I would love that.

I wouldn't say that.

Would you tell me if you knew?

If I were you, I would do it.

You wouldn't say that if you knew the truth.

Okay, good.

Another one.

You wouldn't say that if you knew what I know,

or if you knew what I knew, or knew what I

know.

Both are possible.

Tell me why in the comments.

All right, next one, very common.

Whoa, that's...

What are you doing?

I wouldn't do that if I were you.

So, you can give this as a warning.

You can also use this for advice.

Your friend wants to do something, or maybe

your friend is in the middle of doing something,

and you say, "That's a bad idea.

I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Okay, so don't do that.

I wouldn't do that if I were you.

Next, I wouldn't know.

So, this is a way of saying, "I don't know,"

but you're saying, like, "If you asked me,

I wouldn't know the answer."

So, don't ask me, basically.

So, if someone is asking you, for example, "Do you know...

I don't know.

Do you know the best way to get to Ron's Burger Joint or something?"

A name of a restaurant.

"Ron's Burger Joint."

It's like, "Sorry, I wouldn't know.

I have never heard of Ron's Burger Joint.

Google 'Ron's Burger Joint' and tell me if it's a real place somewhere in the world.

I just made it up."

Okay, I wouldn't know what to do in that situation, right?

So, your friend is telling you about something

that is difficult, a difficult situation,

maybe that both of your mutual friend is

going through, and you're like, "Wow, that's a

tough situation.

I have no idea what I would do in that situation.

I wouldn't know what to do in that situation.

I wouldn't know what to say."

Like, that's really hard.

Maybe you're not good with public speaking, too.

It's like, "I wouldn't know what to say.

I'm not a socially capable person.

Just, I wouldn't know what to say in that situation."

This is very common.

"Sorry, I would if I could."

I have this one in another video, so I'll finish the end of this one.

If you've seen my other video about common modal verb phrases and expressions, I have

"I would if I could, but I can't."

That's right.

So, that's the end of that phrase if you want to make it longer.

"I would if I could."

Like, your friend is asking you to help them

with something, and you say, "Sorry, I would

if I could, but I'm busy."

Or, "I can't."

And finally, the heart of the second conditional.

These two questions, right?

This is really what the second conditional is about when you start learning it.

What would you do if, or what would happen if?

So, one of the most common, probably one of the first two questions you ever hear when

you learn the second conditional.

I'll give you both of them because you've probably heard them.

"What would you do if you won the lottery?"

"What would you do if you had a million dollars?"

They both ask about money, and then normally you'd say, "Oh, yeah.

If I had a million dollars, I would buy a house."

This is the most common answer.

Do you want to know my answer?

"If I had a million dollars, I would pay off my parents' house."

So, I always told myself that.

If I ever won the lottery, I would help my

parents give them the money to finish paying

for their house because they deserve that.

I owe them that for letting me live in their house for so long.

I don't live with my parents anymore, just so you know.

Okay, so that's it.

Like, that's a lot, right?

So, I hope you feel that you have a wider,

richer understanding of the second conditional,

and that it's not just, "If I had a million dollars, I would buy a house."

No, you can say...

Okay, let's say this happened.

If you were to be in this position, if you were me, what would you do?

So, there are so many things that you can use the second conditional for,

and now you know all of them.

I don't want to say all.

A lot of them.

Most of them?

A lot of them.

All right, everybody, we'll stop there.

Check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

It's in the link that's in the description to this video.

Do that.

Test your understanding.

And I hope I have blown your mind.

So, I'm going to leave.

What's a clever second conditional thing I could say?

I don't know.

You tell me.

If you were me, how would you end a video?

Awkward silence.

Tell me.