Conditionals

What is a Conditional?

The conditional format is like math. If X, then Y. Meaning, if X is true, then Y must be true. For example:

If you arrive after class has started, you are late.

Another way of saying this is that any person who has arrived after class has started is late. X is called the condition, and Y is called the outcome. If the condition is true, then the outcome must be true.

If you have $1 billion, you are rich.

Conditionals are literally setup to mean that if the condition (X) is true, then the outcome is true 100% of the time. However, in actually speaking English in everyday life, we aren’t so strict, and very often when X is true, Y is not. For example:

If we see each other, we talk.

Here, the speaker of this sentence isn’t trying to say that 100% of the time they see the other person, they talk to them. They are just saying that, in general, they talk to the person when they see them.

Categories of Conditionals

Conditionals are usually split up into four groups: 0, 1, 2, and 3, for a total of four conditionals. This is done based on the tense and auxiliary verbs of the condition and outcome. For example,

0: (if + present simple, ... present simple)

1: (if + present simple, ... present modal + infinitive)

2: (if + past simple, ... past modal + infinitive/past participle)

3: (if + past perfect, ... past modal + past participle)

However, if we split up conditionals into these categories, there are actually eight conditionals, which you can see below.

0: (if + present simple, ... present simple)

0B: (if + past simple, … present simple)

1: (if + present simple, ... present modal + infinitive)

1B: (if + past simple, … present modal + infinitive)

2: (if + past simple, ... past modal + infinitive/past participle)

3: (if + past perfect, ... past modal + past participle)

3B: (if + past perfect, ... past modal + infinitive/past participle)

3C: (if + past simple, … past modal + past participle)

The Uses of Each Conditional

WARNING: We can try to describe the uses of each conditional, but it’s important to remember that they are not always used this way. As with any part of English grammar, the best way to learn it is by reading and listening to a lot of English and slowly becoming used to it. With that said, let’s talk about the use of each conditional.

0 (if + present simple, ... present simple): Used to talk in general without any reference to a specific event.

If a person doesn’t eat, they die.

If you smoke, you are a smoker.

If Jack goes to a bar, he drinks.

If I see a donut, I eat it.

0B (if + past simple, … present simple): Same as 0, but makes it clear the condition happens prior to the outcome.  

If you just jumped in a pool, you’re wet.

If you got married, you’re not single.

If you killed someone, you’re a murderer.

1 (if + present simple, ... present modal + infinitive): Used to talk about particular, real-life events that the speaker views as being likely to happen.

0: If a person doesn’t eat, they die.

1: If a person doesn’t eat, they will die.

By adding the modal verb will to this sentence, we are now talking about a particular person and situation. But what about that example with Jack? Weren’t we talking about a specific person then?

0: If Jack goes to a bar, he drinks.

1: If Jack goes to a bar, he will drink.

Well, yes, we were. But in the First Conditional, we are now talking about a specific situation, instead of just talking about Jack in general.

Other examples of the First Conditional:

If you play that song again, I won’t be happy.

If it rains, I will exercise indoors.

If we are out of rice, I will go to the store.

1B (if + past simple, … present modal + infinitive): The 1B Conditional is the same as the First Conditional, but it is used when it important to know that the condition has already happened.  So, it is used to talk about particular, real-life, on-going events that the speaker views as being likely to happen.

1: If you invite John to the party, I will not come.

1B: If you invited John to the party, I will not come.

In 1B, the invitations to the party have already been sent out, but the party has not yet happened. In 1, the invitations to the party have not been sent out yet.

Other examples of the 1B Conditional:

If you broke your mom’s laptop, she will be upset when she finds out.

If I failed that test, I will have to retake the course.

If Dan actually proposed to her, I will give you $100.

2 (if + past simple, ... past modal + infinitive/past participle): The Second Conditional is the same as the First Conditional, but it is used when the speaker views as being unlikely to happen. So, it’s used to talk about particular events that the speaker views as being unlikely or even impossible to happen.

1: If Jack goes to a bar, he will drink.

2: If Jack went to a bar, he would drink.

These two examples say the exact same thing, but in the Second Conditional example, the speaker thinks it is less likely that Jack would go to a bar.

Other examples of the Second Conditional:

If you were taller, you would be good at basketball.

If I lived in Iceland, I would be cold all the time.

If I worked harder, I would be more successful.

The 3, 3B, and 3C Conditionals

These three conditionals are very different from the others, because in these the speaker knows that the condition is not true. They are imagining what how the world would be different if it was true.

3 (if + past perfect, ... past modal + past participle): The Third Conditional is used to talk about events where the condition and the outcome are both in the past.

3B (if + past perfect, ... past modal + infinitive/past participle): The 3B Conditional is used to talk about events where the condition is in the past, but the outcome is still in the present.

3: If I hadn’t broken the law, I wouldn’t have gone to jail.

3B: If I hadn’t broken the law, I wouldn’t be in jail.

In the 3B example, the person is still in jail, but in the Third Conditional example, they are no longer in jail.

Other examples of the Third Conditional:

If I had studied more, I wouldn’t have failed the exam.

If you had invited me, I would have come.

If my uncle hadn’t smoked, his health would have been better.

Other examples of the 3B Conditional:

If I hadn’t crashed my car, I wouldn’t have a broken leg.

If I hadn’t met Lily, I wouldn’t be married to her.

If I had eaten more as a kid, I would be taller.

3C (if + past simple, … past modal + past participle): The 3C Conditional is the same as the Third Conditional, except (similar to the 3B Conditional) we use it when the condition is continuing up to the present, and the outcome is in the past. We use it mostly to talk about habits, personality, and other things that are unlikely to change. For example:

3: If I had been more adventurous, I would have gone skydiving.

3C: If I were more adventurous, I would have gone skydiving.

In the Third Conditional example, it is possible that in the time since they chose not to go skydiving, they have become more adventurous. But in the 3C Conditional example, they make it clear that they are still not adventurous. Another example:

If you didn’t smoke cigarettes, you wouldn’t have lung cancer.

From this sentence we know that this person has lung cancer and still continues to smoke cigarettes.

However, when speaking people usually prefer to use the past simple (didn’t smoke) instead of the past perfect (hadn’t smoked), and will often not make this distinction.

Meaning that people often use the 3C Conditional where the Third Conditional ‘technically’ should go. For example, this sentence should be said using the third conditional, but very often you will see it said with the 3C Conditional:

3: If we had come earlier, we wouldn’t have missed the beginning of the film.

3C: If we came earlier, we wouldn’t have missed the beginning of the film.

Other Modal Verbs

All conditionals except for 0 and 0B are made using modal verbs. Remember that there are nine modal verbs and each has a present tense version and a past tense version. These can be confusing because, for example, could, would, and should exist as both present and past tense versions and mean different things depending on the tense.

There are about 44 different sentence types you can create using conditionals in English, if you separate each modal verb. Let’s look at examples of each of them:

0: (if + present simple, ... present simple)

If you smoke, you are a smoker.

0B: (if + past simple, … present simple)

If you died, you are dead.

1: (if + present simple, ... present modal + infinitive)

If you are fit enough, you can climb a mountain.

If you are in a car crash, you could die.

If you go running, you may want to bring some water.

If I’m wrong about this, I might be fired.

If I fail this course, I must retake it.

If you leave early, you shall arrive on time.

If you like movies, you should come.

If you invite John, he will talk too much.

If it rains tomorrow, I would go to the cinema. (Advice for another person)

1B: (if + past simple, … present modal + infinitive)

If you passed the exam, you can enroll in GEP 10.

If you forgot something that important, you could have Alzheimer’s.

If I lost my passport, I may not be able to leave tomorrow.

If you heard thunder, it might be raining.

If I failed this course, I must retake it.

If you left early, you shall arrive on time.

If you lost your passport, you should look for it.

If you invited John, I will not come.

If it rained this morning, I wouldn’t play golf. (Advice for another person)

2: (if + past simple, ... past modal + infinitive/past participle)

If you were fit enough, you could climb a mountain.

If you were in a car crash, you could have died.

If you went running, you may have wanted to bring some water.

If you heard thunder, it might have rained.

If I failed this course, I must have studied poorly.

If you left early, you should arrive on time. (Expectation, not advice)

If you failed the test, you should have studied more.

If you invited John, he would talk too much.

If it rained, I would have gone to the cinema. (Advice for another person)

3: (if + past perfect, ... past modal + past participle)

If you had trained enough, you could have climbed a mountain.

If you had had a heart attack, you could have died. (Same as 3B)

If you had gone running, you may have wanted to bring some water. (Same as 3B)

If you had heard thunder, it might have rained. (Same as 3B)

If I had failed this course, I must have studied poorly. (Same as 3B)

If you had left earlier, you should have arrived on time. (Expectation, not advice; Same as 3B)

Even if you hadn’t crashed the car, you still shouldn’t have been allowed to drive.

If you had invited John, he would have talked too much.

If it had rained, I would have gone to the cinema. (Advice for another person; Same as 3B)

3B: (if + past perfect, ... past modal + infinitive/past participle)

If you had trained more, you could climb a mountain.

Even if you hadn’t crashed the car, you still shouldn’t be allowed to drive.

If you had invited John, he would talk too much.

3C: (if + past simple, ... past modal + past participle)

If you were fit enough, you could have climbed that mountain.

If you left early, you should have arrived on time. (Expectation, not advice)

If you were prepared, you wouldn’t have failed the test.