Conditionals

If I see her, I will tell her.

There are several structures in English that we

call conditionals or if conditionals. The word "condition" means
"situation or circumstance". If a particular condition is true, then a
particular result happens:

 if y = 3 then 2y = 6

There are three basic English conditionals plus the so-

called zero conditional. There are some more conditionals that we
do not use so often.

conditiona usage if-clause main-clause

 l type

1 possible condition + present will + base verb

probable result simple

2 hypothetical condition past would + base

+ possible result simple verb

3 expired past condition past would have +

+ possible past result perfect past participle

0 real condition + present present simple

inevitable result simple

Structure of Conditional Sentences

The structure of most conditionals is very simple. There are two

basic possibilities.

Of course, we add many words and can use various tenses, but
the basic structure is usually like this:

if conditi result
on

if y = 10 2y =
20

or like this:

result if conditi
on

2y = if y = 10
20

This structure can produce, for example, the following sentences:

 If I see her, I will tell her.

 I will tell her if I see her.

Notice the comma in the first sentence. (A comma is always correct

in this case, but not always essential if the sentence is short.) In the
second sentence we do not normally use a comma.
First Conditional

for real possibility

If I win the lottery, I will buy a car.

We are talking about the future. We are thinking about a particular

condition or situation in the future, and the result of this condition.
There is a real possibility that this condition will happen. For
example, it is morning. You are at home. You plan to play tennis this
afternoon. But there are some clouds in the sky. Imagine that it
rains. What will you do?

if condition result

Present will + base

Simple verb

If it rains, I will stay at

home.

Notice that we are thinking about a future condition. It is not raining

yet. But the sky is cloudy and you think that it could rain. We use
the Present Simple tense to talk about the possible future
condition. We use will + base verb to talk about the possible
future result. The important thing about the first conditional is
that there is a real possibility that the condition will happen.

Here are some more examples (do you remember the two basic
structures: [if condition result] and [result if condition]?):
if condition result

Present Simple will + base verb

If I see Mary, I will tell her.

If Tara is free tomorrow, he will invite her.

If they do not pass their their teacher will be

exam, sad.

If it rains tomorrow, will you stay at home?

If it rains tomorrow, what will you do?

result if condition

will + base verb Present Simple

I will tell Mary if I see her.

He will invite Tara if she is free tomorrow.

Their teacher will be if they do not pass their

sad exam.

Will you stay at home if it rains tomorrow?

What will you do if it rains tomorrow?

Sometimes, we use shall, can or may instead of will, for

example: If it's sunny this afternoon, we can play tennis.

Second Conditional

for unreal possibility

If I won the lottery, I would buy a car.

The second conditional is like the first conditional. We are still

thinking about the future. We are thinking about a particular
condition in the future, and the result of this condition. But there
is not a real possibility that this condition will happen. For example,
you do not have a lottery ticket. Is it possible to win? No! No lottery
ticket, no win! But maybe you will buy a lottery ticket in the future.
So you can think about winning in the future, like a dream. It's not
very real, but it's still possible.

if condition result

Past Simple would + base

verb

If I won the I would buy a

lottery, car.

Notice that we are thinking about a future condition. We use

the Past Simple tense to talk about the future condition. We
use would + base verb to talk about the future result. The
important thing about the second conditional is that there is an
unreal possibility that the condition will happen.

Look at these example sentences:

if condition result

Past Simple would + base verb

If I married Mary, I would be happy.

If Ram became rich, she would marry him.

If it snowed next would you be

July, surprised?

If it snowed next what would you do?

July,

result if condition

would + base verb Past Simple

I would be happy if I married Mary.

She would marry if he became rich.

Ram

Would you be if it snowed next

surprised July?

What would you do if it snowed next

result if condition

would + base verb Past Simple

July?

Sometimes, we use should, could or might instead of would, for

example: If I won a million dollars, I could stop working.

Third Conditional

for no possibility

If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a car.

The first conditional and second conditionals talk about the future.
With the third conditional we talk about the past. We talk about a
condition in the past that did not happen. That is why there is no
possibility for this condition. The third conditional is also like a
dream, but with no possibility of the dream coming true.

Last week you bought a lottery ticket. But you did not win. :-(

if condition result

Past Perfect would have + past

participle

If I had won the I would have bought a car.

lottery,

Notice that we are thinking about an impossible past condition. You

did not win the lottery. So the condition was not true, and that
particular condition can never be true because it is finished. We use
the Past Perfect tense to talk about the impossible past condition.
We use would have + past participle to talk about the impossible
past result. The important thing about the third conditional is
that both the condition and result are impossible now.

Look at these example sentences:

if condition result

Past Perfect would have + past participle

If I had seen Mary, I would have told her.

If Tara had been free I would have invited her.

yesterday,

If they had not passed their their teacher would have been
exam, sad.

If it had rained yesterday, would you have stayed at

home?

If it had rained yesterday, what would you have done?

result if condition

would have + past participle Past Perfect

I would have told Mary if I had seen her.

I would have invited Tara if she had been free yesterday.

Their teacher would have been if they had not passed their
sad exam.

Would you have stayed at if it had rained yesterday?

home

What would you have done if it had rained yesterday?

Sometimes, we use should have, could have, might have instead

of would have, for example: If you had bought a lottery ticket,
you might have won.

Zero Conditional

for certainty

If you heat ice, it melts.

We use the so-called zero conditional when the result of the

condition is always true, like a scientific fact.
Take some ice. Put it in a saucepan. Heat the saucepan. What
happens? The ice melts (it becomes water). You would be surprised
if it did not.

if condition result

Present Present
Simple Simple

If you heat ice, it melts.

Notice that we are thinking about a result that is always true for this
condition. The result of the condition is an absolute certainty. We
are not thinking about the future or the past, or even the present.
We are thinking about a simple fact. We use the Present
Simple tense to talk about the condition. We also use the Present
Simple tense to talk about the result. The important thing about the
zero conditional is that the condition always has the same
result.

Look at these example sentences:

if condition result

Present Simple Present Simple

If I miss the 8 o'clock I am late for

bus, work.

If I am late for work, my boss gets

angry.

If people don't eat, they get hungry.

If you heat ice, does it melt?

result if condition

Present Simple Present Simple

I am late for work if I miss the 8 o'clock

bus.

My boss gets if I am late for work.

angry
result if condition

Present Simple Present Simple

People get if they don't eat.

hungry

Does ice melt if you heat it?

We often use when instead of if, for example: When I get up late, I
miss my bus.

Summary of Conditionals

Here is a table to help you to visualize the basic conditionals.

Do not take the 50% and 10% too literally. They are just to help you.

probabilit example time

y,
condition
al

100 zer If you heat ice, it melts. any

% o

50% 1st If I win the lottery, I will buy a car. future

10% 2nd If I won the lottery, I would buy a car. future

0% 3rd If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a past

car.

People sometimes call conditionals "if structures" or "if sentences"

because there is usually (but not always) the word if in a conditional
sentence.