95% of Intermediate Learners Get This Wrong!

Alright, everyone! Open your books to page  34. Today we'll study the conditionals. Yay  

we're gonna learn something new today!  Yeah and it's gonna be boring as hell.  

And i'm the one saying this. Don't pay  attention to him. How bad can it be?

We have the zero conditional, the first  conditional, the second conditional,  

the third conditional... If only there was  a fun, entertaining and useful way to learn  

about this! If you are already a RealLifer,  you know that there is! If you are new here,  

you'll see that learning English does not have to  be boring! As you just saw, conditionals can be  

a bit tricky to learn. There are so many of them  and too many details to remember. But don't worry,  

even if you have not formally studied them, you  have most certainly heard them being used in  

conversation and you've probably even used them  yourself. Let's check out how much you remember.

Yeah this is an example of the Zero Conditional!  So in today's lesson, I'm going to help you to  

review and understand the English Conditionals so  that you can use them in your daily conversations.  

To make it even more meaningful, you'll see them  being used in natural conversations with our  

previous guests from the Beyond Borders Talk Show!  How cool is that? If just like Hamath, your goal  

is to learn English so that you can be fluent  in the real world, connect with other English  

speakers or even understand how English is spoken  out there, then hit that subscribe button so that  

we can help you with that every single week with  new lessons! Now let's jump into today's video.  

Let's get started with the basics.  So what is a conditional sentence?  

That's easy. Now, conditionals are  sentences in which one thing can only happen  

if, when or as long as a certain stipulation  occurs. Look at how Emma used a conditional  

sentence to express the relation between  one's learning and their comfort zone.  

This is another example of the zero conditional  like the one that we saw at the beginning.  

Now let me ask you: Conditional sentences  are divided into two parts, true or false?

This is true. To experience learning  (the results) can only happen if you  

step out there and feel  uncomfortable (the condition).  

If you don't step out there into that space you  don't get to have that experience. We have the  

IF-clause that tells us what's needed (the  condition), and the Result-clause tells us  

the action. Try to identify the IF-clause  and the Result-clause in these sentences.

There are four basic types of Conditionals in  English. Zero: If you stop growing, you start  

dying. First: If you don't go through the moments  of boredom, you're not going to be able to learn  

the language. Second: If you could create a video  for english learners, what topic would you choose?  

Third: If i hadn't practiced day after day,  my English wouldn't have improved so much. Now  

you may be asking yourself: But  how do I use them in real life?  

First you need to understand which ideas  they express and then how they are formed.  

So let's start with the Zero Conditional.  If you stop growing, you start dying.  

A future possibility? A fact, something obvious?  

A hypothetical future situation?  A regret or past consequence?  

So, Zero Conditionals basically  work like this: when A happens,  

B happens. That's it, you can use it when  talking about facts or general truths. For  

that reason you're going to use the present  simple for the two parts. Give it a try:  

How would you complete this sentence using  the simple present of the verbs in brackets?  

Bonus question: Can we change the order of the  IF-clause and say "you start dying if you stop  

growing?" Yes! It doesn't change the meaning at  all. However you do need to pay attention. If  

you're writing the IF-clause at the end, then you  have to remove the comma. Another example of the  

Zero Conditional is something that we always say  here at RealLife: If you don't use it, you lose  

it. We believe so much in it that we've built the  RealLife App for you to connect with learners from  

all around the world and practice your speaking  with short conversations at the touch of a button.  

Now when you learn something, you need to make an  effort to put it into practice without worrying  

too much if you're getting things 100% correct.  So go to the Apple App or Google Play store  

or click on the link down below to download our  app for free and start practicing right now!  

Now let's move on to the First Conditional.  Take a look: So we use it to talk about a real  

future possibility, to make a  suggestion or to discuss future plans.  

We call it Possible Conditional because there  are real chances of the action happening. So  

the IF-clause will be in the Present Simple  and the Result-clause will be in the Future.  

Now it's your turn, try to organize this  conditional sentence using the words from the box.  

If I find a teacher and i pay them money, they  will teach me. Now here's a bonus tip for you.  

There are many ways to refer to the future in  English such as using will, the Present Simple,  

going to, may or might and so much more. Now  let's take a look at the Second Conditional.  

Is this question asking about an imaginary future  situation or a past consequence of an action?

Now if you answered an Imaginary Future Situation,  

you're right! The second conditionals  are Improbable Conditional  

and they are all about imagining a present or  future that you think is unreal or improbable.  

That's why we use would for the Result-clause  and the Past Simple for the IF-clause.  

Look at this simplified version of the question  and answer to better understand the structure:

That's right! Notice we often contract  the word would to just apostrophe D when  

it comes after a pronoun like "I".  See how Jack pronounces it here: 

Now it's your turn to practice using the Second  Conditional. So let me know in the comments below:  

if you could create a video for english  learners, what topic would you choose? So  

now pause the video for a second and complete  the sentence: If i could create a video for  

english learners, i'd talk about... Moving on to the Third Conditional.  

So take a look at this sentence: If i hadn't moved  to Spain, I would have moved to an Asian country.

So this is the Impossible Conditional and we're  going to use a Third Conditional sentence to  

refer to something that didn't happen in the  past and speculate the consequences of it.  

So to form a Third Conditional sentence,  you'll use the Past Perfect with the IF-clause  

and would or might plus the  Present Perfect for the Result.  

So let's take a look at how I used it here when  asking Anna about a past opportunity that she had. 

Alright, now choose the correct alternative  to complete these Third Conditional sentences.

Now that we've seen all of the main conditionals,  

let's recap using Leo's advice  from the beginning of the video.  

Alright so Zero is to talk about facts, we  use the Present Simple and Present Simple. 

First: to talk about possibilities.  The Present Simple and Future.  

Second: to talk about improbabilities.  Past Simple and then would plus a verb.  

Then the Third: impossibilities. The Past Perfect  and would or might and the Present Perfect. 

Now, before we practice them a little bit  more, I want to invite you to pay attention  

to how conditionals are being used when you are  watching a TV series or video or maybe listening  

to a podcast or even speaking with a friend. Take  a moment to observe how they are used in real life  

and don't be afraid to even pause and listen to  it a couple of times if you need to. Don't forget  

to like this lesson so that you can easily come  back to it and redo the activities. Ah! And let  

me know in the comments down below if you would  like a lesson on Mixed Conditionals. Ah yeah!

Which conditional is this?

What do you hear?

You don't have to use IF in  the IF-clause true or false?  

For example, when the pandemic  is over i'll travel to Argentina.

Complete these conditional  sentences with your own ideas  

and make sure that you comment something  positive on other people's ideas.