Making Requests with IF and Using Unreal Past Conditionals in English

Hi everyone! It’s Jennifer with another lesson on conditionals.

If you’ve been watching my lessons on the different kinds of if-clauses we can make,

I hope you’re feeling more confident now about using conditional sentences in English.

Each lesson I challenge you with a couple of tasks.

In the previous lesson, I asked you to complete these sentences with your own ideas.

These are conversational expressions you can use to make requests. You can use them with coworkers, classmates, neighbors, and friends.

Both are polite because they’re unreal conditionals. I’m not telling you the way it’s going to be.

I’m asking whether it would be all right if I got my way. I’m not demanding anything.

Remember to speak hypothetically or to imagine a situation in the present or future,

we use the simple past tense in the condition (that's the if-clause) and then WOULD + the base verb in the result.

Let’s take a look at the examples you came up with and I’ll let you know how much variation is acceptable with the verb forms.

Let's start with Aimanno's sentences.

-ed...-ed...I like those choices. The simple past sounds fine here.

Grammatically it's correct, but this expression is best for making requests, not invitations.

So it might sound more natural if you said, "Would you mind if I joined you for lunch?"

I'm asking, "Is it okay?...Can I join you for lunch?...Would you mind if I joined you for lunch?"

Ra'ed wrote:

I would rather see either the simple past: if you considered

OR some people might use a modal, like "would."

Although we don't normally use "would" in the condition,

it's more so a modal we see in the result,

in this expression, it is very common.

If you would do (something): If you would consider my offer.

We'll make it a question.

Some people choose to use "come" and "have."

And that would be the simple present.

I would suggest shifting to the past.

You can even shorten it.

How about: Would you mind if I came over to your place tonight for dinner ?

Marat shared some examples. He wrote:

(I'd say "about.")

Well, I'll consider that.

I like your verb choices.

That's a good context. I think it sounds fine for everyday spoken conversation.

I might suggest, though, using "ate."

I think "eat" sounds okay, but I'd prefer the past.

(Yes, I would mind!)

Lucas shared examples. He wrote:

What a great suggestion!

You used the simple past, but to suggest a possibility, you could use "could."

So the simple past works, but I would suggest "could" to emphasize that possibility.

And the second example:

You could say: Would you mind if I arrived a little later than planned?

And it sounds very natural. That's a good question to ask either over the phone or by text.

Mollie shared her examples. First:

It sounds okay, but you know what I would prefer?

Either the simple past (opened) or a modal verb (if you would open).

Then you could use the contraction, and it would sound like this?

Second:

Again, it sounds okay, but I would prefer the simple past here.

If you really want to use the simple present, do you know how I'd change it?

I would use "do" at the beginning. It's no longer unreal.

So let's go back now, though, to the construction I gave you.

More examples:

If that's a real request, I'll consider it.

That's a nice request. Right?

You want to interrupt. You don't want to be rude about it. That's a good example.

And I love the verb forms here.

So we have "would" + a base verb and then here we have the simple past.

If you'd like to see more of my corrections to student examples, then visit me on Facebook.

Thank you to everyone who posted their examples.

To summarize, I think these patterns are the ones that are most used and more commonly accepted:

I talked with a colleague about this pattern, and we agreed it was common with verbs in the negative, negative verbs.

Another very common pattern is to use:

I'd really appreciate it if you WOULD / COULD and then the base verb.

You might here people use the simple present.

Technically, I don't think that's correct, but you'll hear it.

And if I heard it, I'd think, "Yeah. I understand what the person wants...what they're saying. It sounds okay."

I'd recommend the simple past. If you really want to use the simple present,

I would suggest changing the question to: Do you mind..."

So it's a difference between unreal and real.

Now let’s consider the question I asked you in the previous lesson: What’s the difference between these sentences?

There were a lot of very good explanations in the comments. Let me share just a few that I think everyone will find useful.

Mahmoud offered his explanations, and some you might find this helpful because he uses traditional grammar terms.

He identifies examples a, b, and c as first, second, and third conditionals.

The past is over.

Gabriel offers very clear explanations.

And Francoise offers a very concise explanation.

Let’s focus on that last example:

Or with the full forms:

So what's the pattern for imagining something about the past that's completely counterfactual?

In other words, it didn't happen that way. I'm just imagining the past differently.

We use IF + past perfect in the condition.

And then WOULD + past participle in the result.

My example was kind of tricky because I used a passive verb: had been invited.

So HAD BEEN + (past participle) is a passive verb in the past perfect.

Here’s an easier example to understand. It uses active verbs, no passives:

Note that we could also use the modal verbs COULD and MIGHT in the result clause.

Let’s practice together, okay?

I'll tell you something that didn't happen, and then you tell me a conditional sentence that we can create based on this situation.

Remember you can use COULD, MIGHT, or WOULD in the result clause.

We’re almost done, so let’s talk about homework.

Your first task is to report these two statements. Rewrite them so that quotation marks are not needed.

You can write your ideas in the comments, but I won’t confirm the answers until the next lesson.

For your bonus task, I want you to identify the time period in this sentence:

We'll go over the answer to that bonus task in our next lesson. That’s all for now.

I'll see you again soon for another lesson on conditionals in English. Please remember to like this video and subscribe if you haven't already.

As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!