Conditionals

They are sentences that show known factors or hypothetical situations and their
consequences. Complete conditional sentences contain a conditional clause (or if-
clause) and the consequence. There are four types of conditionals. Each
conditional has a different meanings, some of them are truths, while some of them
are impossible and some might or might not happen.

Type Condition Result

Zero Conditional
If you study, You pass the exams.

If you heat water at 100 it boils.

degrees,
If you add two and two, you get four.
Formula: Present simple + Present simple
Uses: General truths and habits.
First Conditional
If you study, You will pass the
exams.
If it rains later, I won’t go outside.
If I spend my money on I won’t have enough to
shoes, go out with you.
Formula: Present simple / will, won’t + verb
Uses: A possible situation in the future.
Second
Conditional If I had time to study, I would pass all the
exams.
If I were a boy, I’d put myself first.
If I won a million dollars, I’d buy a mansion.
Formula: Past simple + would +verb
Uses: Hypothetical or unreal situations. / Giving
advices
Third Conditional
If you had studied, You would have
passed the exam.
If I hadn’t talked to her, I wouldn’t have felt sad.
If the weather had been We would have gone to
good, the beach.
Formula: Past perfect + perfect conditional
Uses: Imaginary situations and their results in
the past.
 Mixed Conditionals

Sometimes, we can form senteces by mixing two different conditionals, so that

each part refers to a different sphere of time.These sentences are called "mixed
conditionals". There are two types of mixed conditional sentences:

Present result of a past condition

This type of mixed conditional refers to an unreal past condition and its probable
result in the present. These sentences express a situation which is contrary to
reality both in the past and in the present.

If clause (condition) Main clause (result)

If + past perfect Present conditional(would/wouldn’t +v
in infinitive).
If this thing had happened, That thing would happen.
Examples:
 If you had spent all your money, you wouldn't buy this jacket. (but you
didn't spend all your money and now you can buy this jacket)
 If you had crashed the car, you might be in trouble.

Past result of present or continuing condition

These mixed conditional sentences refer to an unreal present situation and its
probable (but unreal) past result.

If clause (condition) Main clause (result)

If + simple past Perfect conditional (would/would’nt +have
+ past participle).
If this thing happened, That thing would have happened.
Examples:
 If I wasn’t afraid of spiders, I would have picked it up.
 If we didn’t trust him, we would have sacked him months ago.