This document discusses different types of conditional sentences in English: - Zero conditional describes straightforward cause and effect or scientific truths using present simple in both clauses. - First conditional expresses likelihood or promises using "if + present, will + infinitive". - Second conditional expresses improbability using "if + past simple, would/could/might + infinitive". - Third conditional expresses regret or imaginary past situations using "if + past perfect, would/could/have + past participle". It also covers alternatives to "if", mixed conditionals combining different tenses, and uses of "I wish" and "if only".

1. CONDITIONAL SENTENCES
Zero
First
Second
Third

2. Use of conditional sentences
 Conditional sentences allow us to talk about
PROBABLE, IMPROBABLE/ UNREAL AND
IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS and their
CONSEQUENCES.
 So, conditional sentences typically contain
TWO CLAUSES:
- a condition clause (if-clause)
- a result clause

3. ZERO CONDITIONAL
if+ present simple, / present simple
Present simple / if+present simple
 To describe A STRAIGHTFORWARD
CAUSE AND EFFECT
If you press that button, the engine starts.
 To write a SCIENTIFIC TRUTH
If you mix oil and water, the oil floats.
*remember that in this kind of sentences, you
can often replace “if” with “whenever”

4. FIRST CONDITIONAL:
IF + PRESENT SIMPLE , WILL
WILL / IF+PRESENT SIMPLE
 When we believe that something is LIKELY
(PROBABLE) TO HAPPEN:
If I have the money, I will buy a new car.
You will pass your exams if you study hard.
 For PROMISES or THREATS:
If I go to America, I’ll send you a postcard
If you don’t do your homework, you won’t go out

5. POSSIBLE VARIATIONS OF THE MAIN
FORM: If+ present simple,/ will future
1) Instead of WILL, we may have other MODAL VERBS
If you keep on behaving like that, you may/might have
problems.
If you finish your work in time, you can/may go home.
If you want to lose weight, you must/should eat less bread.
If you see Tom, could you ask him to ring me?
2) Instead of WILL, we may have an IMPERATIVE
If you are hungry, make yourself a sandwich.

6. POSSIBLE VARIATIONS OF THE MAIN
FORM: If+ present simple,/ will future
 Instead of “PRESENT SIMPLE”, we may
have a present continuous or a present
perfect:
If you are looking for Peter, you will find him
upstairs.
If you have finished dinner, I’ll ask the waiter for
the bill.

7. SECOND CONDITIONAL:
IF+ SIMPLE PAST, WOULD/COULD/ MIGHT +
INFINITIVE
 when we think that a situation is NOT VERY
LIKELY (problable) TO HAPPEN
If the students were more serious, they could have
better results.
 for UNREAL or IMAGINARY SITUATIONS:
If I were the President of the USA, I would help poor
people all over the world.
 for ADVICE:
If I were you, I would think about it.
 for POLITE REQUESTS:
Would you mind if I borrowed these CDs?

8. EXAMPLE OF POSSIBLE VARIATIONS
 If you tried again, you might succeed.
 If I knew her number, I could ring her up.
 If I were on holiday, I might be touring Italy.

9. THIRD CONDITIONAL
IF+PAST PERFECT , WOULD/COULD/MIGHT HAVE
+PAST PARTICIPLE
 To describe IMAGINARY or UNREAL
SITUATIONS in the past
If I had won the lottery, I wouldn’t have had financial
problems.
(= but I didn’t win the lottery and so I had financial
problems)
 To express REGRETS:
If you had bought me a diamond ring, I would have
loved you forever.
(= but you didn’t buy me one, so I stopped loving you!)

10. Examples of possible variations:
- If I had known you were coming, I could have
met you at the airport.
(I didn’t know you were coming, so I didn’t meet
you there)
- We might have passed if we had studied
harder.
(We didn’t study hard, so we didn’t pass)

11. ALTERNATIVES TO ‘IF’...
 UNLESS (= if not)
You wouldn’t lose weight, unless you stopped eating
chocolate.
Unless you hurry, you’ll miss the train.
 AS LONG AS / PROVIDED (THAT) / ON CONDITION
THAT....
I’ll lend you my books as long as / provided that / on
condition that you promise to bring them back.
I woud lend you my books as long as / provided that/ on
condition that you promised to bring them back.

12. ALTERNATIVES TO ‘IF’...
 EVEN IF...
Even if I were a millionaire, I wouldn’t give him
any money.
 OTHERWISE (= if it doesn’t happen/ if it
didn’t happen/ it it hadn’t happened)
Stop eating chocolate, otherwise you won’t
lose weight.
Her father pays her fees, otherwise she
wouldn’t be here.
He studied very hard, otherwise he wouldn’t
have had such good marks.

13. ALTERNATIVES TO ‘IF’...
 INVERSIONS
Had I known that he was upset, I wouldn’t have
said anything.
 BUT FOR (if it weren’t for / if it hadn’t been
for)
We would go out more often but for the
children.
I wouldn’t have come to the party but for her
insistence.

14. ALTERNATIVES TO ‘IF’...
SUPPOSE/ SUPPOSING (THAT)
- Suppose (that) / supposing (that), + ………?
Suppose he asks you for a date, will you
accept?
Suppose you failed your exam, would you tell
your parents?
Suppose they had offered you the job, would
you have accepted?

15. I wish / If only
We use I wish/ If only + past simple to talk
about a desire for the present.
I’m not very tall. I wish/If only I were taller.
I haven’t got a house at the beach. I wish/ If
only I had a house at the beach.

16. I wish / If only
We use I wish/If only + past participle to talk
about a regret about something in the past.
I didn’t study very hard. I wish/ If only I had
studied harder.
I ate a lot; I’m so full. I wish/ If only I hadn’t
eaten so much.

17. I wish / If only
 We use I wish/If only + would-inf to
complain about something annoying.
My parents never let me stay at my friends’
houses. I wish/ If only my parents would let
me stay at my friends’ houses.
He is always talking while the teacher is
explaining. I wish/ If only he would stop
talking.

18. MIXED CONDITIONALS
It combines the THIRD CONDITIONAL (in the
condition clause) with the SECOND
CONDITIONAL (in the result clause):
If I hadn’t eaten that seafood, I wouldn’t feel so
awful now.
If the weather had been fine last week, there
would be roses in the garden now.
* It happens when the time reference in the if-clause is different to
the time reference in the main clause.

19. MIXED CONDITIONALS
 Or the SECOND CONDITIONAL (in the if-
clause) with the THIRD CONDITIONAL (in
the main clause)
If he weren’t so shy, he would have asked her
to marry him.
If Emma weren’t so lazy, she would have
studied harder.
* It happens when the time reference in the if-clause is different to
the time reference in the main clause.