CONDITIONALS

FIRST CONDITIONAL SECOND CONDITIONAL THIRD CONDITIONAL

= = =
to express a possibility in the future to express an unreal or improbable to express an unreal situation in the
situation now past

IF / UNLESS + present simple, will/won’t + IF + past simple, would(n’t) + verb IF + had + past participle, would(n’t) + have
verb + past participle

Ex: If you don’t do more work, you’ll fail the
exam.
He’ll be late for the match if he doesn’t
hurry up. *
She won’t go to university unless she gets a
grant.
Ex: If I won the lottery, I would travel around
the world. *
If he spoke English, he would get a job in a
hotel.
I wouldn’t do that job if I didn’t really need
the money.
Ex: If I hadn’t gone to that party, I wouldn’t
have met my boyfriend.
If he had locked the door properly, nobody
would have come in.
We would have arrived on time if we hadn’t
got lost. *

* En français : * En français: * En français :

Il sera en retard pour le match s’il ne se Si je gagnais au loto, je voyagerais dans le Nous serions arrivés à l’heure si nous ne nous
dépêche pas. monde entier. étions pas perdus.

Note about the « ZERO CONDITIONAL »: If + present simple, .... present simple.
This conditional is used when the result will always happen. It's a fact; I'm talking in general, not about one particular situation. The result of the 'if
clause' is always the main clause.
Ex.: If water reaches 100 degrees, it boils. - If people eat too much, they get fat. - If you touch a fire, you get burned. - Snakes bite if
they are scared
Some special cases to be attentive to:
- The use of modals is also possible in the conditional to add the nuance of the modal
Ex.: If I won a lot of money, I might buy a house (possibility, probability) – If it stopped raining, we could go out (possibility, ability) – If the
weather hadn’t been so bad, we could have gone out (possibility, ability)

- To say that we regret something, “wish” is also possible

Ex.: I wish we were on holiday right now! – I feel sick, I wish I hadn’t eaten so much cake.

- After “if” and “wish”, the form “were” instead of “was” is also possible
Ex.: If I were / was you, I wouldn’t buy that car – I wish my mother were / was here with me.

- After “had PP” in the subclause with “if”, there can be two possibilities in the main clause, depending on whether you focus on the present or
the past
Ex.: If I had gone to the party last night, I would be tired now OR I wouldn’t have met your charming sister.

- “ ‘d” can be the contraction of “had” and “would”

Ex.: If I’d seen her, I’d have talked to her.

- In a formal letter
Ex.: I would be grateful if you would let me know as soon as possible.
To complain about a situation or say that we’d like something to happen (focus on the future)
Ex.: I wish it would stop raining – I wish someone would buy me a car.

- “wish somebody something”

Ex.: I wish you luck in your new job