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Warm up • What would you do if you won the lottery? • What would you do if you were meeting your friend for dinner, and they texted to say they’d be 45 minutes late?
What are conditionals? • Conditional sentences are sentences expressing factual implications, or hypothetical situations and their consequences.
Sentences with if where one event depends on another event are called conditionals. The if clause is the condition and the other part of the sentence is the result. Here are four examples of conditionals used for talking about checking in at the airport for a flight O If you arrive early you get a better seat. 1 If you arrive early, you' get a better seat. 2 If you arrived early, you'd get a better seat. 3 If you had arrived early, you'd have got a better seat.
Sentence 0 is talking generally about something that is always true. It is called a zero conditional. Sentence 1 describes what someone thinks will happen in a real situation. You believe that the things you are talking about will happen. It is called a real condition or the first conditional. Sentence 2 describes what might happen in the future, or things you can imagine happening. It is called an imaginary condition or the second conditional. Sentence 3 describes things you can imagine happening in the past. It is impossible to change the past. So, this is called an impossible condition, or the third conditional
ZERO CONDITIONAL If you don’t water flowers, they die. If you have a headache, stop watching TV. If clause: PRESENT SIMPLE Main clause:PRESENT SIMPLE or IMPERATIVE With zero conditional we express a general truth or we give advice.
Zero conditional: if +present simple,. present simple Things that are always or generally true. We can use when or if to introduce the sentence • Its a tropical country, so if it rains hard, everyone stays indoors. • It's a tropical country, so when it rains hard, everyone stays indoors. We can use an imperative structure in the result clause. An imperative is when we tell people what to do. • If you feel dizzy, stop taking the tablets • If you change your mind, give me a ring
FIRST CONDITIONAL If the weather isnice, we will go for a walk. If you don’t apologize, she will never trustyou again. If clause: PRESENT SIMPLE Main clause:FUTURE SIMPLE The first conditional refers to the present and future. It expresses a possible condition and its probable result in the future.
First conditional: if + present simple, ... will/won't Future events that will happen or are likely to happen. The event is a real possibility in the speaker's mind, NOT IMAGINARY. • If we walk so slowly, we'll be late. • If we run, we won't be late. • If we don't run, we will be late.
SECOND CONDITIONAL If I had a lot of money, I would buy a big house. If I knew his number, I would phone him. if-clause:PAST TENSE SIMPLE main clause:PRESENT CONDITIONALwould + infinitive The second conditional refers to the present and future. It expresses an unreal situation and its probable result. The situation or condition is improbable, impossible, imaginary, or contrary to known facts.
SECOND CONDITIONAL Jack wants to buy a house but he can’t do this because he doesn’t have any money. If I had a lot of money, I would buy a big house.
SECOND CONDITIONAL Susan wants to phone Paul but she can’t do this because she doesn’t know his number. If I knew his number, I would phone him.
FIRST v. SECOND CONDITIONAL If John runs fast, he will win the race. This is still possible to happen. If John ran fast, he would win the race. This is unlikely to happen because John doesn’t run fast. THE DIFFERENCE: FIRST and SECOND CONDITIONAL Both conditionals refer to the present and future. The difference is about probability, not time. First conditional: real and possible situations Second conditional: unlikely to happen
THIRD CONDITIONAL If I had had a lot of money, I would have bought a big house. If I had known his number, I would have phoned him. if-clause:PAST PERFECT SIMPLE main clause:PAST CONDITIONALwould + have + past participle The third conditional refers to the past and it is not based on facts. It expresses the a situation which is contrary to reality in the past.
THIRD CONDITIONAL Jack wanted to buy a house last year but he couldn’t do that because he didn’t have any money. If I had had a lot of money, I would have bought a big house.
THIRD CONDITIONAL Yesterday, Susan wanted to phone Paul but she couldn’t do that because she didn’t know his number. If I had known his number, I would have phoned him.
SECOND v. THIRD CONDITIONAL If Isaw a car accident, I would call an ambulance. But I don’t see an accident now. This is unlikely to happen. If I had seen a car accident, I would have called an ambulance. But I didn’t see an accident yesterday. This is contrary to the fact in the past. THE DIFFERENCE: SECOND and THIRD CONDITIONAL The difference is about time. Second conditional: refers to the present and future Third conditional: refers to the past situations
ALL CONDITIONALS 0. If he drives carefully, he avoids the accident. General time reference. 1. If he drives carefully, he will avoid the accident tomorrow. This is still possible to happen. 2. If he drove carefully, he would avoid the accident today. But he doesn’t drive carefully. This is unlikely to happen. 3. If he had driven carefully, he would have avoided the accident yesterday. But he didn’t drive carefully, so he didn’t avoid the accident.
