Second Conditional
If + past simple, would + infinitive
If I had a lot of time, I would visit all my relatives on their birthdays.
Third Conditional
If + had + past participle, would + have + past participle
If I had known the meetings were cancelled, I wouldn’t have worked at the presentation during the night.
If you need some clarification regarding the second conditional, we are here to show you how to form it, how you can use it and a lot of examples!
So the speaker talks about things he/she doesn’t think will happen and about the possible results of these situations.
Second conditional contains two parts:
- The hypothetical or unlikely part which begins with if and then subject and the verb in the past simple
When do we use the third conditional?
We use the third conditional when we want to talk about imaginary, hypothetical situations in the past.
Form:
If + had + past participle, would + have + past participle
Let’s say that:
I was really upset in the morning. When I got to work, it turned out the meetings were cancelled.
But: If I had known the meetings were cancelled, I wouldn’t have worked at the presentation during the night.
Zero conditional:
We use the zero conditional when we need to talk about things which are always true, something that happens in general.
These facts can be scientific, they are general truths, or things which we consider being true, they can be habits or facts from the real world.
Here if = when, because they are not really conditions, more situations.
Examples:
- When/If I run, my heart beats really fast.
