Learn Conditionals in English - Conditionals in English Grammar 0 1 2 3

so if you have never heard this word before  you may be wondering what are conditionals  

sometimes we call conditionals if clauses  a clause is like a part of a sentence right  

so conditionals describe the result  of something that might happen  

in the present or future or might  have happened but didn't in the past  

and if that sounds a little confusing don't  worry we're going to talk about it all today  

so conditionals are made using different english  verb tenses and we're going to learn all about it  

today we are going to talk about the four  main kinds of conditionals in english  

so we have something called the zero conditional  first conditional second conditional and third  

conditional so we're gonna we have a zero one two  three conditional there's also something called  

mixed conditionals but we're gonna keep it uh as  simple as we can today for this challenging topic  

all right so let's get started  we're gonna go through one by one  

so let's start with our zero conditional

so zero conditional this is used to talk about  general facts and truth so things that are true  

so let's take a look at some  examples what does this mean  

so in conditionals we have our if clause and our  main clause to make our whole sentence so for zero  

conditionals we're using the simple present tense  talking about facts things that are generally true  

so we use if and simple present and  our main clause is also simple present  

so zero conditional basically if  this thing happens that thing happens  

this is used to talk about true things for example  i might say if you heat water to 100 degrees  

celsius it boils we can see here in this example  i'm using simple present if you heat it boils  

and i'm just sharing a general fact  right if you do this this happens  

if you heat water to 100 degrees celsius it boils  if it rains the road gets wet right just a simple  

fact if this thing happens if our condition it  rains if it rains the road gets wet simple fact  

just something that is true so we use our zero  conditional to talk about general truths and facts  

let's look at some more examples so here's another  example in this case we are using a negative  

if plants don't get enough water they die  right so here we're using again simple present  

if plants don't get enough water they die  sad but true i have many plants so i know  

this all too well so one thing to note and we're  going to see this for all our conditional types  

often we have our if clause and then  our main clause if this then that  

however we can also switch it around plants die  if they don't get enough water so here we have  

our main clause and then our if this is also  correct so both of these we can use so if it's  

easier for you to remember the if then you can  do that but just know you can also switch them  

if plants don't get enough water they die  or plants die if they don't get enough water  

let's look at a couple more zero conditional  examples if my husband has a cold i usually catch  

it so here again we're just using simple present  and we're using an adverb of frequency which we  

always use with simple present and again  we can also switch our uh clauses here  

our if clause and main clause we can switch i  usually catch a cold if my husband gets sick  

okay let's look at one more so zero conditional  is used to talk about simple true things right if  

plants don't get water they die if you heat water  to 100 degrees celsius it boils simple true facts  

but we can also use this zero conditional to  give instructions so let's take a look at a  

couple examples if you want to see a movie  call me before 5 pm maybe i am talking to  

my friend and they're saying i don't know  if i want to see a movie i have so much  

work to do i might say okay well if you want to  see a movie call me before five and then we can go

or another example if john calls tell him  i'm busy so here we have our condition  

and then our main clause is an  instruction right do this thing  

if this happens do this thing and in this case  we're also using simple present simple present  

so that's uh that's it for zero conditional  we use it for true facts simple true things  

simple present simple present and we  can also use it to give instructions  

okay that's the easy one uh next  let's go to our first conditional

the first conditional refers to a possible  condition and its probable result these  

sentences are based on facts and used  to make statements about the real world  

so you'll see why this matters uh in the future  first conditional is used to talk about real  

things that might happen really might happen uh  we use this to talk about the present or future  

and the situation is real so present  or future and the situation is real  

so let's see what this all means so here  let's look at a table for first conditional  

if simple present in our main clause simple  future so here if this thing happens that thing  

will happen and remember this is to talk  about real things for example if he is late  

i will be angry maybe i'm waiting for my  friend oh he is always late if he is late today  

i will be angry this is the likely  or probable result to this condition  

if it rains tomorrow we'll go see a movie so  here we're using the contraction of we will right  

if it rains tomorrow right so here's our condition  

if this thing happens if it rains tomorrow we  will go see a movie it is likely or probable  

that we'll go see a movie because we can't  really do anything outside on a rainy day so  

remember if this thing happens that thing  will happen let's look at some more examples  

if it rains i won't go to the park so just like we  can use will we can also use won't so if it rains  

the likely result is i won't go to the park  right still future i won't go in the future

if i study today i'll go to the party tonight so  here we have again our simple condition if i study  

today my reward to myself is i'll go to the party  tonight i will do it in the future that is likely  

and probable and real if i have enough money i  will buy some new shoes so here again we're using  

our contraction aisle for i will if i have enough  money right if this condition is met i will buy  

some new shoes so as you can see this is a really  common commonly used conditional because it's  

about real life right simple things in real life  if this happens i will do this or this will happen  

another example where we've switched our clauses  so instead of if then we're switching she'll be  

late if the train is delayed and remember we could  also say if the train is delayed she'll be late we  

can always switch these around like this so first  conditional is a simple one and we can also use  

modal verbs like should could may and might to  change the certainty of the result for example if  

you drop that glass it might break so i  don't always have to use will i might be  

uh uncertain about what will happen so maybe it is  a plastic glass oh if you drop it it might break  

right still talking about the future it might  break or i may finish that letter if i have time  

so here again we've switched our clauses  if i have time i may finish that letter  

so here it's kind of a prediction right but we use  the same structure in our we're just switching out  

will with a modal verb might or may all right  so remember first conditional is if this happens  

then something will happen if this thing happens  that thing will happen present and future  

okay let's go on to our second conditional  so the second conditional is similar  

but different from the first conditional  because here it's talking about an unlikely  

or hypothetical condition and its probable result  do you guys know what this word means hypothetical  

hypothetical means not real or imagined  right i'm just imagining what would happen

the time is now or any other time and the  situation is again hypothetical not real just  

imagined so we're not talking necessarily about  real life what will happen what i will do if  

something happens let's take a look at how  this conditional is different so here in our  

first clause we're using the simple past and for  our main clause we're using present conditional  

or present continuous conditional so what is that  in simpler terms if this thing happened that thing  

would happen so here again just imagining if you  went to bed earlier you wouldn't be so tired so  

this means you didn't go to bed early right you  are maybe if you're tired today and i see you  

if you went to bed earlier you wouldn't be so  tired so if you had done this thing in the past  

what would the result be you wouldn't be so  tired if the weather wasn't so bad we would  

go to the beach so here again just imagining just  hypothetical not real so if the weather wasn't so  

bad we would go to the beach this means ugh the  weather is bad so we cannot go to the beach today  

but oh imagine if the weather wasn't so  bad we would go to the beach just imagining  

right not real hypothetical let's look at  some more examples of the second conditional  

if i was the president i would give everyone more  vacation days right this is not real unfortunately  

i am not the president or maybe fortunately i am  not the president uh but if i was i would give  

everyone more vacation days again hypothetical  if this thing happened if i was the president  

then this thing would happen i would  give everyone more vacation days

if you really loved me you would visit  me more often so here we have our past  

uh if clause if you really  loved me and then our uh

conditional using wood you  would visit me more often

if i had more money i would travel everywhere  so again imagining if i had more money  

i would travel anywhere i'm sure in an english  class sometime in the past your teacher may  

have asked you hypothetical questions like this  what would you do if you were president if i was  

the president i would da da what would you do if  you won the lottery if i won the lottery i would  

so this is second conditional not real  hypothetical uh one thing to note uh so here  

in number one i say if i was but it is very common  to say if i were so this is called the subjunctive  

mood if i were you i would give up smoking or  if i were a plant i would love rain so you can  

use was but it is correct and very common to say  if i were when we're using this conditional form

also just like we could for our first conditional  we can use modal verbs in the main clause of this  

form to change our certainty we might buy a larger  house if we had more money so here's our oh oh  

we're stuck whoops so uh didn't mean to scribble  that out so here are if claws if we had more money  

we might buy a larger house so here right  not real if we had more money but we don't  

but if we did i can also use might or may words  like this if i'm not really sure what i would do  

oh if i won the lottery i might travel to every  country or i might do this i might do that  

all right so this is our second conditional which  we use to talk about things that are not real  

and we're just imagining right hypothetical  is the word to use for this one  

all right guys we're almost done let's talk about  our third conditional so this one is uh a bit  

different this refers to it's all in the past this  third conditional is all happening in the past  

it refers to an impossible condition  in the past and its probable result  

in the past so actually we often use the third  conditional to talk about things we regret  

if i had done this this would have been different  so third conditional all talking about the past  

an impossible condition in the past these  sentences are truly hypothetical and unreal  

because we can't change the past right uh  in the second conditional i'd say oh if i  

won the lottery i would that's hypothetical  but maybe one day i could win the lottery  

third conditional is totally unreal because it's  all about the past and we cannot change the past  

so the time is the past and the situation is  hypothetical so let's take a look at what this  

means so here we're using past perfect if  past perfect and then a perfect conditional  

or perfect continuous conditional so  what does that look like if this thing  

had happened that thing would have happened  so all uh imagining right all hypothetical  

didn't happen wish it did for example if  it had rained you would have gotten wet  

today is a sunny day but if it had rained in  the past you would have gotten wet in the past  

right so these impossible things that  would have could have happened in the past  

uh next one if you had worked harder  you would have passed the test  

so here we see a commonly used way that the third  conditional is used to talk about regret if you  

had worked harder you would have passed  the test if this past condition were true  

this other thing also would have been true but  you didn't you didn't work hard you didn't pass  

the test if you had worked harder you would have  passed the test and notice here yes we're using  

perfect tense which means we're using things like  had happened would have happened have gotten have  

passed we're using our past participles here all  right let's look at some more examples and then  

we'll take some questions so here we go third  conditional examples if i had worked harder i  

would have gotten a promotion so here a different  form of that uh passing the test question if i  

had worked harder i would have gotten a promotion  so this means i didn't get a promotion because i  

didn't work hard enough so i'll remember  third conditional totally hypothetical  

all in the past if i had worked harder in the  past i would have gotten a promotion in the past

if i had known you were coming i would have baked  a cake maybe it's my friend's birthday and they  

come to my house unexpectedly and i say oh if i  had known you were coming i would have baked a  

cake so i can't change this right this is totally  hypothetical i can't go back in time and bake a  

cake but i can tell my friend if i had known you  were coming in the past i would have baked a cake  

in the past and here again regret oh i wish i  would have known i wish i could have done that  

and here oh so sad i would have been happy if you  had called me on my birthday so in this form just  

like in our other forms we can take our if  clause and our main clause and switch them  

so i could say if you had called me  on my birthday i would have been happy  

or i would have been happy if you had called  me on my birthday again all in the past right  

can't change it all in the past and uh just  thinking what could have would have happened  

uh last one if you had told me you were  free i wouldn't have made other plans  

so this is something i say to my husband very  often sometimes he wants to do things together  

but i've made other plans so i say if you had  told me you were free and didn't have plans  

i wouldn't have made other plans so again  what could have been different in the past  

so what about contractions uh  so if we look at a sentence  

our first sentence here if i had worked  harder i would have gotten a promotion  

so i had and i would can both they both have  the same contraction i'd so it can be a little  

confusing to read so that with contractions if  i'd worked harder i'd have gotten a promotion  

one key trick here to know uh does this mean  wood or had let's take a look at this first part  

if i'd worked harder so what sounds more correct  if i had worked harder or if i would worked harder  

it would be if i had right when we have an  ed this is a past participle then it must be  

had if i had worked if i had known if you had  told me and here we see our past participles  

right same had called had known so if the  next word is a past participle we know  

it means have or had in our second part i'd  have gotten a promotion so what makes more sense  

i would have gotten a promotion or i had  have gotten a promotion maybe i would have  

right and often in these conditionals we use the  phrase i would have so i'd have means i would have  

uh here's another example if i'd known you were  coming i'd have baked a cake again we know this  

first part with our if is had because we  have our past participle known if i had known  

if i'd known i'd have baked a cake  there again i would have baked a cake  

but actually more often we say i  would have so we don't necessarily say  

if we have the phrase i would have we could  say i'd have but often we say i would have  

so it's a little easier there so let's  review and then we'll take some questions  

so zero conditional is what we use for general  facts and truths if this thing happens that  

thing happens if you heat water to 100 degrees  celsius it boils simple truths simple facts  

first conditional is about a real possible  condition and a possible or probable result  

if this thing happens that thing will happen for  example if i exercise i will go out to eat with my  

friends later if i do this then that will happen  second conditional is unlikely or hypothetical  

for example uh if this thing happened that  thing would happen and our last one our third  

conditional is truly not possible all happens in  the past if this thing had happened that thing  

would have happened if you uh had told me you were  coming over i would have made dinner so uh this  

is a useful chart for remembering and i hope  that you guys learned a lot in this lesson today