ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASS

KBI-B 8
¡ Conditional Sentences are also known as
Conditional Clauses or If Clauses.
¡ Used to express that the action in the main
clause (without if) can only take place if a
certain condition (in the clause with if) is
fulfilled.
¡ There are three types of Conditional
Sentences.
¡ It is possible and also very likely that the condition will
be fulfilled
¡ Form: if + Simple Present, will-Future
à If I find her address, I’ll send her an
invitation.
¡ Conditional Sentences Type I refer to the future àAn
action in the future will only happen if a certain
condition is fulfilled by that time.
à We don't know for sure whether the condition
actually will be fulfilled or not, but the conditions seems
rather realistic à so we think it is likely to happen.
¡ If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation.
àI want to send an invitation to a friend. I just have
to find her address. I am quite sure, however, that I
will find it.
¡ If John has the money, he will buy a Ferrari.
à I know John very well and I know that he earns a
lot of money and that he loves Ferraris. So I think it
is very likely that sooner or later he will have the
money to buy a Ferrari.
¡ The main clause can also be at the beginning of the
sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.
àI will send her an invitation if I find her address.

¡ Main clause and / or if clause might be negative.

àIf I don’t see him this afternoon, I will phone him
in the evening.
¡ If you (send) this letter now, she (receive) it tomorrow.
¡ If I (do) this test, I (improve) my English.
¡ If I (find) your ring, I (give) it back to you.
¡ Peggy (go) shopping if she (have) time in the afternoon.
¡ Simon (go) to London next week if he (get) a cheap
flight.
¡ If her boyfriend (phone / not) today, she (leave) him.
¡ If they (study / not) harder, they (pass / not) the exam.
¡ If it (rain) tomorrow, I (have to / not) water the plants.
¡ You (be able/ not) to sleep if you (watch) this scary film.
¡ Susan (move / not) into the new house if it (be / not)
ready on time.
¡ It is possible but very unlikely, that the condition
will be fulfilled
¡ Form: if + Simple Past, Conditional I (= would +
Infinitive)
¡ à If I found her address, I would send her an
invitation.
¡ Conditional Sentences Type II refer to situations in
the present àAn action could happen if the present
situation were different àWe don't really expect
the situation to change, however. So, we just
imagine “what would happen if …“
¡ If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.
à I would like to send an invitation to a friend. I have
looked everywhere for her address, but I cannot find
it. So now I think it is rather unlikely that I will
eventually find her address.
¡ Example: If John had the money, he would buy a Ferrari.
à I know John very well and I know that he doesn't have
much money, but he loves Ferraris. He would like to
own a Ferrari (in his dreams). But I think it is very
unlikely that he will have the money to buy one in the
near future.
¡ The main clause can also be at the beginning of the
sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.
à I would send her an invitation if I found her
address.
¡ Main clause and / or if clause might be negative.
à If I had a lot of money, I wouldn’t stay here.
Use “Were” instead of “Was”
¡ In IF Clauses Type II, we usually use ‘were’ – even if
the pronoun is I, he, she or it.
àIf I were you, I would not do this.
Janine is a daydreamer. She imagines what would happen if she won the
lottery.
¡ If I (would play/played) the lottery, I (would have/had) a chance to hit the
jackpot.
¡ If I (would hit/hit) the jackpot, I (would be/were) rich.
¡ If I (would be/were) rich, my life (would change/changed) completely.
¡ I (would buy/bought) a lonely island, if I (would find/found) a nice one.
¡ I (would invite/invited) all my friends if I (would have/had) a house by the
beach.
¡ I (would pick/picked) my friends up in my yacht if they (would want/wanted)
to spend their holidays on my island.
¡ We (would have/had) great parties if my friends (would come/came) to my
island.
¡ But if my friends' holidays (would be/were) over, I (would feel/felt) very
lonely on my lonely island.
¡ It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled because
it refers to the past.
¡ Form: if + Past Perfect, Conditional II (= would + have + Past
Participle)
à If I had found her address, I would have sent her an
invitation.
¡ Conditional Sentences Type III refer to situations in the past
à An action could have happened in the past if a certain
condition had been fulfilled.
¡ Things were different then, however. We just imagine, what
would have happened if the situation had been fulfilled.
¡ If I had found her address, I would have sent her an
invitation.
à Sometime in the past, I wanted to send an invitation
to a friend. I didn't find her address, however. So in
the end I didn't send her an invitation.
¡ If John had had the money, he would have bought a
Ferrari.
à I knew John very well and I know that he never had
much money, but he loved Ferraris. He would have
loved to own a Ferrari, but he never had the money to
buy one.
¡ The main clause can also be at the beginning of the
sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.
à I would have sent her an invitation if I had found
her address.
¡ Main clause and / or if clause might be negative.
(See Past Perfect and Conditional II on how to form
negative sentences).
à If I hadn’t studied, I wouldn’t have passed my
exams.
Complete the Conditional Sentences (Type III) by putting the verbs
into the correct form. Use conditional II with would in the main
clause.
¡ If you (study) for the test, you (pass) it.
¡ If you (ask) me, I (help) you.
¡ If we (go) to the cinema, we (see) my friend Jacob.
¡ If you (speak) English, she (understand) .
¡ If they (listen) to me, we (be) home earlier.
¡ I (write) you a postcard if I (have) your address.
¡ If I (not / break) my leg, I (take part) in the contest.
¡ If it (not/ start) to rain, we (walk) to the museum.
¡ We (swim) in the sea if there (not / be) so many sharks there.
¡ If she (take) the bus, she (not / arrive) on time.