The Second Conditional

The Second Conditional

1. The second conditional uses the past simple after if, then 'would' and the infinitive: if + past simple, ...would + infinitive (We can use 'were' instead of 'was' with 'I' and 'he/she/it'. This is mostly done in formal writing).

   • It has two uses. First, we can use it to talk about things in the future that are probably not going to be true. Maybe I'm imagining some dream for example.
     • we can use it to talk about something in the present which is impossible, because it's not true.
       • This kind of conditional sentence is different from the first conditional because this is a lot more unlikely.