Conditional sentences

• Conditional Sentences / If-Clauses

Type I, II und III
• Conditional Sentences are also known as
Conditional Clauses or If Clauses. They
are 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.
 Type 1
• Conditional Sentence Type 1
• → It is possible and also very likely that
the condition will be fulfilled.
• Form: if + Simple Present, will-Future
• Example: If I find her address, I’ll send her
an invitation.
 Type 2
• Conditional Sentence Type 2
• → It is possible but very unlikely, that
the condition will be fulfilled.
• Form: if + Simple Past, Conditional I (=
would + Infinitive)
• Example: If I found her address, I would
send her an invitation.
 Type 3
• Conditional Sentence Type 3
• → 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)
• Example: If I had found her address, I
would have sent her an invitation
 Exercises on type 1
• Some friends are planning a party.
Everybody wants to party, but nobody's
really keen on preparing and organizing
the party. So everybody comes up with a
few conditions, just to make sure that the
others will also do something ,,
 Examples-type 1
• If Caroline and Sue prepare the salad,
Phil will decorate the house.
• If Sue cuts the onions for the salad,
If mushrooms.
Caroline will peel the
• Jane will hoover he sitting room if Aaron
and Tim move the furniture.
 Examples type 1
• If Bob tidies up the kitchen, Anita will
clean the toilet.
• Elaine will buy the drinks if somebody
helps her carry the bottles.
• If Alan and Rebecca organize the food,
Mary and Conor will make the
sandwiches.
• If Bob looks after the barbecue, Sue will
let the guests
 Examples continue
• Frank will play the DJ if the others bring
along their CDs.
• Alan will mix the drinks if Jane gives him
some of her cocktail recipes.
• If they all do their best, the party will be
great.
 Type 2(example)
• Janine is a daydreamer. She imagines
what would happen if she won the
lottery.
 Examples
• Complete the Conditional Sentences
Type II.
• If I played the lottery, I would have a chance to
hit the jackpot.
• If I hit the jackpot, I would be rich.
• If I were rich, my life would change completely.
• I would buy a lonely island, if I found a nice
one.
 Examples continue,,
• If I owned a lonely island, I would
build a huge house by the beach.
• I would invite all my friends if I had a
house by the beach.
• I would pick my friends up in my
yacht if they wanted to spend their
holidays on my island.
 Examples

• We would have great parties if my

friends came to my island.
• If we liked to go shopping in a big
city, we would charter a helicopter.
• But if my friends' holidays were over,
I would feel very lonely on my lonely
island.
 Conditional type 3
• What a match – your favourite team has
lost again! So after the game, the
supporters discuss what could have
been different.
 Examples ..type 3
• Complete the Conditional Sentences Type III.
• If the midfielders had passed the ball more
exactly, our team would have had more
chances to attack.
• If the forwards had run faster, they would
have scored more goals.
• Their motivation would have improved if they
a goal had kicked during the first half.
 Examples continue
• The fullbacks would have prevented one
or the other goal if they had marked their
opponents.
• If the goalie had jumped up, he would
have caught the ball.
• If the referee had seen the foul, he would
have awarded a penalty kick to our team.
• Our team would have been in better form if
they had trained harder the weeks before
 Examples continue
• The game would have become better
if the trainer had sent a substitute in
during the second half.
• If it had been a home game, our team
would have won the match.
• If our team had won the match, they
would have moved up in the league.