CONDITIONALS

Conditionals are clauses introduced with ,,if”. There are 3 types of conditional clauses.
There is also another common type, type 0.
Type IF - MAIN CLAUSE USE
0 CLAUSE PRESENT SIMPLE Somethin
genera IF+PRSEN Water turns into ice. g which
l truthT SIMPLE is always
If the true
temperatur
e falls
below 0C
Type IF+present Future/imperative/can/may/might/must/should/ Real-
1 simple, could+short infinitive likely to
Real present happen
presen continuous, in the
t present He will got to prison, present
perfect or come and see me. or future
present
perfect
continuous
If he
doesn’t pay
the fine
If you need
help
If you have
finished We can have a break
your work
Type If+past Would/could/might+infinitive Imaginar
2 real simple or y
presen past situation
t continuous contrary
If I had I would take up a sport. to facts in
time the
If I were present
you Also used
I would talk to my parents about it. to give
advice
Type If+past Would/could/might+have+past participle Imaginar
3 perfect or y
Unrea past perfect situation
l past continuous contrary
If she had She would have passed the test. to facts in
studied the past
harder Also used
 If he He wouldn’t have been punished. to
hadn’t express
been acting regrets
too or
foolishly criticism

We can use UNLESS instead of IF....NOT in the If clause of Type 1 conditionals. The verb
is always in the affirmative after UNLESS.
EG. Unless you leave now, you’ll miss the bus. (=if you don’t leave now, you’ll miss the
bus).
We can use WERE instead of WAS for all persons in the If-clause of Type 2 conditionals.
EG. If Rick were/was here, we could have a party.
We use IF I were you.....when we want t ogive advice. EG. If I were ypu, I wouldn’t
complain about it.
The following expressions can be used instead of IF: provided/providing that, as long as,
suppose/supposing etc.
EG. You can see him provided you have an appointment. (if you have an appointment....)
We will all have dinner together providing she comes on time .(if she comes ....)
Suppose/supposing the boss came now, what would you say? (if the boss came...).
We can omit IF in the if-clause. When if is omitted, should (type 1), were (type2), had
(type3) and the subject are inverted.
EG. Should Peter come, tell him to wait. (=If Peter should come....)
Were I you, I wouldn’t trust him.(=if I were you...)
Had he known, he would have called (=if he had known..).

IF-WHEN
We use IF to say that something might happen.
We use WHEN to say that something will definitely happen.
EG. If you see him, will you give him the message?
When you see ho=im, will you give him the message?
MIXED CONDITIONALS
All types of conditionals can be mixed. Any tense combination is possible if the context
permits it.
 IF-CLAUSE
Type 2 -If nobody paid the bill
Type 2 If he had money
Type 3-If he had won the lottery
MAIN CLAUSE
The electricity will be cut off. -type 1
He would have bought her a gift. -type 3
He wouldn’t be asking for money now.-
type 2

WISHES
We use the verb WISH and the expression IF ONLY to express a wish. If only is more
emphatic than I wish.
-wish/if only+past simple/past continuous: when we want to say that we would like
something to be different in the present.
EG. I wish/if only / had a room of my own.
-wish/if only+past perfect: to express regret that something happened or did not happen in
the past.
EG. I wish I had got your message earlier. (but I didn’t get it earlier).
If only I had talked to him. (but I didn’t talk to him).
-wish/if only+would:
a. for a polite imperative .EG. I wish you would stop shouting. (please stop shouting).
b. to express our wish for a change in a situation or someone’s behaviour because we are
annoyed by it.
EG. I wish the wind would stop blowing.
If only he would stop insulting people.
-after the subject pronous I and WE , we use could instead of would.
EG. I wish we could got o the party. (not I wish we would go..)
OBS. We can use WERE instead of WAS after wish or if only.
EG. I wish she were/was more sensitive.