HAPPY SLOTH MAIL

Conditionals
BASIC RULES

Utilizamos estas estructuras constantemente, no excuses! Tienes que dominarlas y ponerlas en práctica YA.
Esta tabla está muy simplificada para recordar lo básico.

TYPE STRUCTURE USES EXAMPLE

IF+ PRESENT SIMPLE,

Real facts If you heat water, it boils.
PRESENT SIMPLE

IF+ PRESENT SIMPLE,

Probable situations If you study and practise, you
WILL
will pass your driving test,

IF+ PAST SIMPLE, Not probable situations If I moved to Canada, I

WOULD To give advice :
If I were you, I would...
Not real situations
would come back every
summer.
If I were you I would buy a
new car.
If I could fly, I would
travel the world for free!

If I had known about her

IF+ PAST PERFECT, Regrets and past depression, I would have
WOULD HAVE + situations that we helped her.
can’t change now If she had left home
p.participle
earlier, she wouldn’t have
missed the train.

Si quieres repasar aún más antes de hacer los ejercicios, tienes

este vídeo de Youtube para repasar la teoría conmigo:

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There is one mistake in each conditional sentence, can you find them and
correct them below?

1- If I were you, I will call the police if they disturb you during the night again.

2-If I had lived in London for a year, I would had made many English-speaking friends.

3- If it rains for hours, the streets will get wet.

4- If I discover the cure for cancer, I would save many lives.

5- Carmen would have stayed for lunch if you have invited her over.

6- My niece will help you out if you asked her for a hand with your project.

7- If Isabella had arrived on time, the teacher would have allow her to take the test.

8- If María would call, I’d tell her the truth about her brother.

Focus only on 1st & 2nd conditional now. For these situations, depending if they are probable,
not probable or impossible for you, come up with a conditional using the right structure.

Example If I spent four months in Mexico, I would learn

Spend four months in Mexico many new spicy recipes.

1-_____________________________________________________________________________
Run into a famous singer in your neighbourhood

2-_____________________________________________________________________________
Learn another language in the future

3-_____________________________________________________________________________
Visit New York next summer

4-_____________________________________________________________________________
Send Marta a private message

5-_____________________________________________________________________________
Buy olive oil in the supermarket

6-_____________________________________________________________________________

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Give advice by using these phrasal verbs. Let’s solve these problems by using
the 2nd conditional structure for advice and a phrasal verb from the list.
TALK INTO (convince) GIVE AWAY (donate)
WORK OUT (exercise)
PUT UP WITH (tolerate) DROP BY (pay a quick visit)

I have so many books I’ve already read...

my shelves are cluttered!

My boyfriend doesn’t want to come to the

concert but I really want him to come!

I feel weak and tired...

My boss is often aggressive and

bad-tempered for no good reason...

I’m a bit worried about Lina, she didn’t

sound ok on the phone this morning.

Let’s up our game and use the 3rd conditional!

1-You forgot to lock your back door and you were robbed last night.

2- I got a fine because I let my dog loose in the park yesterday.

3- The president didn’t keep his promises and therefore he wasn’t re-elected last term.

4- The academy manager decided to close it down because many students had dropped out.

5- I knew someone in the company and that is why I decided to apply for the job.

6-My sister complained about the food because the waiter took ages to serve her.

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 More advanced structures
If you happen to + infinitive, .. - Si por casualidad...
If you happen to see my dad, tell him to call me.

Were someone to do something, + would ...(variante más formal del 2nd conditional)
Were the candidate to be more charismatic, people would vote for him.

Unless - except if
I’ll buy that house unless the bank doesn’t loan me the money.

Had it not been for ... + would have ... - si no hubiera sido por... (variante de 3rd conditional)
Had it not been for Alex, I would have never tried Chinese food.

Advanced Activity
Rewrite the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence,
using any of the conditional structures we’ve seen today (simple or advanced).

1. You shouldn’t stay awake until late every night. WERE

If I .......

2.It was only because of Carla that I took up pottery. FOR

Had........

3. My cousin can only stay for lunch if we drive him home afterwards. LIFT

My cousin can’t stay for lunch ....

4. I didn’t complete my degree because I couldn’t afford the tuition fee. ABLE

If I ........

5. The mayor doesn’t help the local businesses so their situation isn’t improving. TO

Were...

6. If by any chance you are around town tomorrow, drop by the office. HAPPEN

If you ..........

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Being creative with conditionals

Answer these questions but pay attention to the conditional structure you need to
use.

What would you do if you saw your best friend’s boyfriend kissing someone else?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

What do you regret about your early student life? (Use a 3rd conditional to answer!)

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

If you could see through walls, what would you do?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

If you could change one thing about your current bedroom, what would it be?
_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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Answer key
1- If I were you, I WOULD call the police if they disturb you during the night again.
2-If I had lived in London for a year, I would HAVE made many English-speaking friends.
3- If it rains for hours, the streets GET wet.
4- If I discoverED the cure for cancer, I would save many lives.
5- Carmen would have stayed for lunch if you HAD invited her over.
6- My niece will help you out if you ASK her for a hand with your project.
7- If Isabella had arrived on time, the teacher would have allowED her to take the test.
8- If María CALLED, I’d tell her the truth about her brother.

1. If I spent four months in Mexico, I would learn many new spicy recipes.
2. If I ran into a famous singer in my neighbourhood, I would tell her how much I love her songs.
3. If I learn another language in the future, it will probably be French.
4. If I visited New York next summer, I’d pay my friend Angie a visit.
5. If I send Marta a private message, she will take less than 48 hours to answer me back.
6. If I buy olive oil in the supermarket, I will be surprised with the price!

Suggested answers
1. If I were you, I would give some of the books away to charity.
2. If I were you, I would talk him into it! Recuerda que puedes
3. If I were you, I would work out more. contraer had y would y se
4. If I were you, I wouldn’t put up with that! quedaría “ ‘d”
5. If I were you, I would drop by her house later.

Suggested answers
1. If you had locked the back door/If you hadn’t forgotten to lock your back door, you wouldn’t
have been robbed/they wouldn’t have robbed you last night.
2. If I had had my dog on a leash, I wouldn’t have got a fine yesterday.
3. If the president had kept his promises, he would have been re-elected last term.
4. If the students hadn’t dropped out, the manager wouldn’t have closed the academy down.
5. If I hadn’t know someone in the company, I wouldn’t have applied for the job.
6. If the waiter hadn’t taken ages to serve her, my sister wouldn’t have complained.

1. If I were you, I wouldn’t stay awake until late every night.

2. Had it not been for Carla, I wouldn’t have taken up pottery.
3. My cousin can’t stay for lunch unless we give him a lift later.
4. If I had been able to afford the tuition fee, I would have completed my degree.
5. Were the mayor to help the local businesses, their situation would improve.
6. If you happen to be around town tomorrow, drop by the office.

Suggested answer
1. If I saw my best friend’s boyfriend kissing someone else, I would call her immediately and I’d try to
be as delicate as possible when I break the news to her.

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Reading time
Steve Job’s Standford Speech
This week I’d like to share with an inspirational speech that Steve Jobs gave in 2005. I
really enjoyed it the first time I heard it so trust me, it’s worth your time.

You can read first and listen to it while you watch the video afterwards, or the
other way round, your choice!
I hope October has many good things in store for us :)

Love,
Marta

Read the article here

Mini glossary
No big deal - Nada importante, poca cosa Loss - Pérdida

Connect the dots - Unir los puntos, A falling out - Una pelea

encontrarle el sentido Don’t settle - No te conformes

Drop out - Dejar, abandonar Issue - En este contexto se refiere a

Drop in- Dejarse caer, pasarse una fascículo

Figure it out- Entender, saber Foolish - Tonto, ingenuo

Notas
No intentes entender todas las palabras, muchas las adivinarás por contexto. Lo importante es que
entiendas la idea general y además aprendas algo en el proceso.
PS- Can you find conditional structures in the text? ;)

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