How to Use the First Conditional and a Comparison with the Second Conditional

Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com and in this English lesson,

I'm going to give you an introduction to the first

conditional. Now, I see a lot of confusion

with the different conditionals in English, so

English learners can make mistakes here, and I see a lot of mistakes

So, hopefully, after this video you'll have a better understanding of how to

use it

and then also later in the video I'm going to compare it to the second

conditional

because this is where I see most confusion. But first,

let's have a look at video well I used the first conditional;

a video that I posted on Facebook.

"The problem is it might rain so if it rains then we'll probably

do something else instead." So, in the video, I said,

"The problem is it might rain. So

if it rains, we'll probably do something else instead."

So you can see here I'm using the first conditional:

If it rains, we'll probably do something else instead.

Now, the first conditional is used to talk about real

possibilities in the future, so

the real possibility here is the rain

and us maybe doing something else instead

so that's what we're talking about we're talking about real situations.

And just to give you more context, before I said this

in the video, I was talking about going to see some

chickens with my son but we were worried about the weather

because it was maybe going to rain and

it did rain. So, we didn't go to see the chickens...

but when we use the first conditional we talk about these real possibilities in

the future.

Now, there are many ways that you can use the first conditional

we can use if in the first clause,

or when; as soon as... and in the second clause

we can use things like: will, going to, might,

should or the imperative, so there are many ways that we can use it.

Additionally, we can use the clauses

the other way around. And we're gonna see some examples now that are going to show you this:

You must get the burger

if you go to that restaurant. So,in this case,

we're giving strong advice: you must get that burger

if you go to that restaurant, and the

if clause is at the end this time, so

you can see the difference here. When I'm older

I'm going to travel the world. So, I'm using when here

because it's a certainty; talking about a certain situation in the future:

When i'm older not if I'm older but when I'm older.

I'll tell him as soon as I see him.

So, in this example, we're using as soon as.

if you like it.

you should buy it. if you like it you should buy it.

This is something I always tell my wife she says, "Should I buy this?"

and I say, if you like it, and you can afford it,

you should buy it!" Now. let's have a look at the difference between the first

conditional

and the second conditional. So, imagine that your football or soccer team

is playing in the World Cup final next week.... you might say something like,

"If we win, the country will go crazy!"

"If we win, the country will go crazy!" In the second example,

the World Cup isn't taking place at the moment,

so there isn't a World Cup at the moment; this is what you would say,

"If we won the World Cup, the country

would go crazy!" So, you can see the difference

because when you're soccer team is playing in the World Cup final next week

this is a real possibility in the future. If your team

isn't playing, then it's an imaginary situation

and that's why we use the second conditional. Now, one last thing I want to

say:

In the first conditional with

the if clause we always use the present simple:

if we win.

What I want you to do now is this: write a sentence using the first conditional

below

and make it relevant to you, so try to make it relevant to your situation

and your life. So, I hope this video has been useful for you

if it has, then please share it with your friends.

Thanks for watching and see you next time!