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Conditional sentences

Real and unreal conditionals

  1. You won't get a phone upgrade unless you've got a contract. Can I borrow your laptop a moment if you're not using it? If it stops raining, I'm going to walk into town.

First conditional sentences are used to talk about a possible present or future situation and its result. We use any present tense in the if-clause and any form of the future or a modal verb in the other clause.

  1. How would you know if he wasn't telling the truth? If we had a bit more time here, we could go to the museum.

Second conditional sentences are used to talk about hypothetical or improbable situations in the present or future. We use the past tense (simple or continuous) in the if-clause and would (or could/might) + infinitive in the other clause.

was or were in the if-clause? We can use were instead of was after 1/ he / she / it in the if-clause and we always use were in the expression If I were you…

  1. I would have bought that jacket if they’d had it in my size. If you’d been looking where you were going, you might not have tripped.

Third conditional sentences are used to talk about a hypothetical situation in the past. We use the past perfect (simple or continuous) in the if-clause and would have (or could/might have) + past participle in the other clause.

Mixed conditionals

I wouldn't be in this mess if I had listened to your advice. If Jenny didn't still love Mike, she would have left him by now.

If we want to refer to the present and the past in the same sentence, we can mix tenses from two different types of conditional, e.g. I wouldn’t be in this mess (second conditional) if I had listened to your advice (third conditional).

If Jenny didn’t still love Mike (second conditional), she would have left him by now (third conditional).

Alternatives to if in conditional sentences

1 I’ll tell you what happened as long as / so long as you promise not to tell anyone else. Provided / Providing (that) the bank gives us a mortgage, we’re going to buy that flat. My boss agreed to give me Friday off on condition (that) I worked over the weekend.

We often use as long as / so long as, provided / providing (that), and on condition (that) instead of if to emphasize what must happen or be done for something else to happen. that is often omitted in spoken English. on condition (that) is slightly more formal than the other expressions.

2 I’m going to sell the car whether you agree with me or not.

We can use whether + subject + verb + or not instead of if to emphasize something is true in either of two cases. The word order can also be: I’m going to sell the car whether or not you agree with me.

3 Even if I get the job, I’m going to carry on living with my parents for a while.

We can use even if instead of if for extra emphasis.

4 Supposing/Suppose you lost your phone, what would you do?

We can use supposing / suppose when we ask someone to imagine that something is true or might happen. It is usually used at the beginning of a sentence.

5 Had I seen the sign, I would have stopped.

In third conditionals, we can invert had and the subject and leave out if. Had I seen… If I had seen…

Examples instead using IF

  • Next year I will buy a new smartphone ìf / whether my current phone is working or not
  • I may buy a cheap phone if / as long as the camera is good enough
  • I will not buy an oPhone if i dont find / unless I find a total bargain
  • I would let someone use my phone if / on condition (that)…
  • I would live for a day withput using my phone provided(that)…
  • I will keep my phone next to me on the dinning table whether…
  • I will keep my phone muted during class unless…
  • You can answer a phone call while driving as long as you use hands-free speaker