CONDITIONALS

CONDITIONALS

1. ZERO

   • Zero conditional sentences express general truths—situations in which one thing always causes another. When you use a zero conditional, you’re talking about a general truth rather than a specific instance of something.
     • EXAMPLE: If you don’t brush your teeth, you get cavities / When people smoke cigarettes, their health suffers.
       • There are a couple of things to take note of in the above sentences in which the zero conditional is used. First, when using the zero conditional, the correct tense to use in both clauses is the simple present tense. A common mistake is to use the simple future tense.

2. FIRST

   • First conditional sentences are used to express situations in which the outcome is likely (but not guaranteed) to happen in the future.
     • EXAMPLE: If you rest, you will feel better / If you set your mind to a goal, you’ll eventually achieve it.
       • Note that we use the simple present tense in the if-clause and simple future tense in the main clause—that is, the clause that expresses the likely outcome. This is how we indicate that under a certain condition (as expressed in the if-clause), a specific result will likely happen in the future.

3. SECOND

   • Second conditional sentences are useful for expressing outcomes that are completely unrealistic or will not likely happen in the future.
     • EXAMPLE: If I inherited a billion dollars, I would travel to the moon / If I owned a zoo, I might let people interact with the animals more.
       • Notice the correct way to structure second conditional sentences is to use the simple past tense in the if-clause and an auxiliary modal verb (e.g., could, should, would, might) in the main clause (the one that expresses the unrealistic or unlikely outcome).
         • https://www.grammarly.com/blog/conditional-sentences/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqbyNBhC2ARIsALDwAsCwVT3o6VZAkxI4etZhpNloXcg1hIfLMva4idjunkW7t9SOD7Pii7saAgltEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

4. THIRD

   • Third conditional sentences are used to explain that present circumstances would be different if something different had happened in the past.
     • EXAMPLE: If you had told me you needed a ride, I would have left earlier / If I had cleaned the house, I could have gone to the movies.
       • These sentences express a condition that was likely enough, but did not actually happen in the past. The speaker in the first sentence was capable of leaving early, but did not. Along these same lines, the speaker in the second sentence was capable of cleaning the house, but did not. These are all conditions that were likely, but regrettably did not happen. Note that when using the third conditional, we use the past perfect (i.e., had + past participle) in the if-clause. The modal auxiliary (would, could, should, etc.) + have + past participle in the main clause expresses the theoretical situation that could have happened.