Mixed Conditionals in English: If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011... 😲

- If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,

my portfolio today would be worth...

Many of you watching this will know about the zero,

the first, the second, and the third conditional.

But did you also know that there

are mixed conditionals, too?

Hello, everybody this is Jack from tofluency.com

and in this English lesson we're going to look

at mixed conditionals.

We're going to look at lots of examples

so that you can understand how and when to use them.

But first let's talk about the conditionals

that you probably already know.

We're going to do this fairly quickly.

If you want a full tutorial on conditionals

then check out the description.

The first one, the zero, is this.

I get tired when I eat too much.

I get tired when I eat too much.

This is so true.

If I have a lot to eat I feel really tired.

Now the zero conditional is used

to talk about things in general.

Here is an example of the first conditional now.

If it rains, we won't go to the party.

The party is outside.

The party is real.

It is happening in the future.

But if it rains we won't go,

because we don't want to get wet.

So the fist conditional is used

for real situations in the future.

Let's now talk about hypothetical situations

using the second and the third conditional.

An example of the second conditional is this.

I would do it if I had more time.

I would do it if I had more time.

So I don't have more time, therefore,

I'm not going to do it.

But in a hypothetical situation,

I would do it if I had more time.

And the third conditional is similar to the second,

but we're talking about hypothetical situations

in the past.

I would have done it if I had more time.

I would have done it if I had more time.

I didn't have time in the past,

therefore, I didn't do it.

So now we know the zero, first, second,

and third conditionals.

Let's now talk about mixed conditionals.

And to help me do that, here is a story.

In 2011, when my wife and I moved to Asheville

and I started teaching online

I had a little bit of money to invest,

and I wanted to make my first investment.

I had never invested in stocks or anything else before.

So I started doing a little bit of research.

I created a short list of three main options.

The stock market, gold, and Bitcoin.

If you don't know what Bitcoin is, it is this peer-to-peer

digital currency which has gained

a lot of attention recently.

And I remember being on certain websites

researching it and trying to figure out

exactly what this thing is.

And I was almost ready to invest.

But what put me off and what stopped me

from doing it was that it just sounded

so complicated.

The website I was on talked about cold and hot wallets,

online storage, the blockchain in general.

So, I didn't get any and I invested

in something else, instead.

Now here is the important part.

If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,

my portfolio today would be worth

1.5 million dollars.

Yeah.

But let's not talk about regrets

and think about the money that I could have now.

Instead, let's focus on the mixed conditional.

Look at that sentence again.

If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011

my portfolio would be worth 1.5 million dollars today.

What we're doing here is we're talking about

a past hypothetical event,

and how that relates

to a present hypothetical event.

We use this when we want to talk about

how something different in the past

would effect the present today.

Here is another example.

If I hadn't met my wife in Ecuador,

I wouldn't be living in America now.

So, I met my wife in Ecuador in 2007.

She is American and therefore we decided

to move to America.

But if I hadn't met my wife in Ecuador,

I wouldn't be living in America today.

Again, we're talking about how

a hypothetical situation in the past

would effect the present.

And one more example.

If he had listened during his English class,

he would have a higher level now.

If he had listened during his English class,

he would have a higher level now.

So this is quite advanced

and if you want to go back and listen

to those examples again,

I recommend you do so.

I'll also leave them in the description

and as the pinned comment.

Let's now look at another type of mixed conditional.

It's on your screen now.

If I weren't going to that wedding tomorrow,

I would have gone out last night.

If I weren't going to that wedding tomorrow,

I would have gone out last night.

What do you see here?

Well, the first clause talks about the future,

and the second clause talks about the past.

So, a hypothetical situation in the future

can effect a hypothetical outcome in the past.

Because I'm going to that wedding tomorrow,

I decided not to go out last night.

But, if I weren't going to that wedding tomorrow,

I would have gone out last night.

There are other types of mixed conditionals

which I'll talk about in a future video.

But here is one last piece of advice.

Don't force these mixed conditionals in conversations.

What I mean is, don't feel like you should use them

because they are advanced English.

Instead, know that they are used

for very specific situations.

Okay, now it is your turn.

Leave some examples of conditionals below.

Feel free to do this for zero, first, second,

third, or any mixed conditional.

But I just want you to practice a little bit.

Oh and here is one last example.

If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,

I would have sold it a long time ago.

Thank you for watching.

(upbeat music)