English Conditional Sentences [Zero and First Conditionals with Examples]

Hey, it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English.

This is exactly where you want to be every week to get the confidence you want

for your life and work in English. I'm curious,

have you ever spent time studying the conditional forms in English and thought,

do I really need this?

Will I really use the conditional forms in conversations?

I definitely remember having those same thoughts when I was studying mathematics

as a kid,

I was sure that I would never need to use algebra as an adult.

And of course it was a very sad day when I realized that, yes,

I actually do need to understand algebra as an adult.

In fact, I use it almost every day.

The same thing is true for those conditionals in English.

We do use them all the time in our conversations.

There is no doubt that it's important to understand how to form

the conditionals in English,

but simply memorizing the formulas out of a grammar book won't

give you a full picture of how we really use conditionals in English

conversation. For example,

did you know that the first conditional can be used to make a promise,

to give a warning, to talk about probabilities?

In today's Confident English lesson,

I want to share with you how the zero and first conditionals are used in

real life and real conversations in English so that you're ready to use

them accurately and confidently in your conversations.

To get started, I have a question for you. I have two sentences here,

and I want you to tell me what is the difference.

When I'm too tired to cook, I order takeout.

If I'm too tired to cook tonight, I'll order takeout.

Those two sentences are very similar, but there is a distinct difference.

One of them provides a general truth and the other is focused on

probability.

Can you identify which one is talking about a general truth and which

one is talking about probability?

If you're not sure let's dive in to talking about the zero conditional in

English and the first conditional so that you know exactly how they're used and

why we use them. Let's start with the zero, conditional,

which we can use to talk about general truths or routines.

And to do that,

we can start our sentence with if or when then use the present simple in

both clauses. Let me give you a couple of examples.

If you heat ice, it melts.

That's a fact a general truth.

When I drink coffee in the afternoon, I don't sleep at night.

Again, a general truth. An example of talking about routine.

When I begin my workday, I start with checking my email. Now,

what about you? What do you do when you start your workday?

How would you finish that sentence? When you finish that sentence,

make sure that you're using the present simple and when you've done so you've

successfully created as zero conditional sentence to talk about your routine.

And now let's move on to the first conditional,

which we can use to talk about likely probability,

future consequences, promises, and warnings. Now,

just as a quick refresher,

here is the general formula we use when we're creating a first conditional

sentence. And I'm sure you've memorized this many times in the past.

So let's see how it's used in practical, real life examples.

As you know,

we can never predict with a hundred percent certainty what will happen in the

future,

but we can express what is likely to happen or a likely

probability. Let's look at a couple of examples.

If it continues to rain, we will have to cancel our hike tomorrow,

or we'll have to postpone our hike tomorrow.

If we finish this project under budget,

our client will be thrilled and we'll likely want to continue working with us.

Again, we can never be a hundred percent certain about the future,

but in those examples,

we can be fairly certain of our predictions.

And as I'm sure you know, any time we're problem solving or brainstorming,

we definitely include predictions and probabilities when we're

trying to determine the best way forward or the right solution.

So using the first conditional in those situations is definitely helpful.

Now let's move on to future consequences.

Consequences could be positive or negative. For example,

let's start with a positive consequence.

If you develop a successful self-care routine,

you will be able to better manage stress anxiety.

Similarly, if you maintain a healthy lifestyle,

you will be more physically fit. As you can see,

both of those examples follow our formula for the first conditional and we're

highlighting a positive outcome or consequence.

And now let's look at a negative one. If we don't get this finished by Friday,

we will have to work overtime on the weekend.

No one wants to work overtime on the weekend.

So that is definitely a negative consequence.

Before we talk about making promises or giving someone a warning using

the first conditional,

I want you to practice by finishing this sentence focused on a

consequence. If you develop a successful self-care routine,

what will happen, what will be a positive outcome of that for you:

as always, you can share your examples with me in the comments below.

And now let's talk about making promises.

When we follow that same basic formula for the first conditional,

we can make promises such as if you cook dinner tonight,

I will do the dishes. If you do all your homework,

I will let you go to your friend's house.

If you practice English consistently with the right strategies,

you will make progress. Yes. That I can promise you.

Promises can also be useful in a negotiation. For example,

we will compromise on the costs, if you agree to our terms of service.

And finally, let's talk about giving a warning.

Imagine you have a customer that has not paid their monthly invoice.

Of course you could send an email that says pay now!

But a more polite way to do that would be to give a warning using the first

conditional. If you do not pay your invoice immediately,

we will cancel your subscription.

If you do not complete this project on time, we will terminate our contract.

If you do not finish your homework,

you will not be able to go to your friend's house. All right,

now that you know that you can use the zero and first conditionals to talk about

routines general truths, probabilities,

future consequences, promises, and warnings,

are you convinced that yes,

conditionals are important and we do use them in daily

conversation in English. Now that you have this overview,

I want you to practice.

So there are three things that you can do in the comments below. Number one,

give me an example, using the zero,

conditional to highlight a general truth or to talk

about a routine or habit that you have. Number two,

I want you to share an example using the first conditional highlighting a

future probability or a future consequence.

And finally, in the third example, again,

I want you to focus on the first conditional,

but this time I want you to make a promise or give someone a

warning.

The best way to do all of this is to think about real circumstances in your

life right now. Are there projects that you're working on?

Are there issues that you're having with team members think about those real

situations you have right now and apply using the zero or

first conditional appropriately to those situations?

As always the best place to practice and learn from others by reading their

examples is just below this video.

If you found today's lesson useful to you, I would love to know.

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Thank you so much for joining me, have a wonderful week.

And I look forward to seeing you next time for your Confident English lesson.