hey there I'm Emma from English I've got
a grammar lesson for you today and I'm
really excited to be sharing it with you
because it's one that you've been asking
for for quite a while we're talking
about conditional sentences in English
I'm going to go over the basic structure
and the meaning of all conditional
sentences in English if you've studied
these sentences before then this video
is going to be awesome revision for you
but if you're not so familiar with
conditional sentences then it's gonna be
an excellent introduction so let's get
started
[Music]
sometimes it feels like English grammar
can be pretty loose like yeah there's
some rules but sometimes they don't
apply sometimes there's exceptions I get
it I've got to teach it but there are
some grammatical structures in English
that follow really clear rules and the
structure of conditional sentences is
nice and clear which makes it easier for
you to feel confident about the way that
you express your thoughts and your ideas
when you speak we use conditional
sentences to explain what actually
happens what could happen so a possible
and likely outcome in the future we talk
about what we wish would happen so
imagining a different outcome for our
present situation and what might have
happened so thinking about a different
outcome that happened in the past now
there are four types of conditional
sentences they're all really similar but
they're not the same if I get sick I go
to the doctor if I get sick I will go to
the doctor
if I got sick I would go to the doctor
if I had been sick I would have gone to
the doctor so let's talk about what is
the same or what's similar about all of
these sentences they all use two clauses
there are two parts to each sentence
separated by a comma and they all use
the conjunction if just a little
reminder that we use conjunctions in
English to join two ideas together in
one sentence I ate an apple and two
desserts I like it but I don't want it
I'll do it if you drive me to the cinema
later so all of these words are really
really tiny grammatical words but they
have an important function they're
connecting two ideas together and
conditional sentences all use if to join
two ideas together in all conditional
sentences we have an if clause and a
result clause so the if Clause is the
event or the situation that must happen
in order for the other thing to happen
so the result can only happen if the if
course occurs and that is why it's
called a conditional sentence a
condition is something that you have to
do or a situation that needs to exist in
order for something else to happen you
can't get this without squeezing this
there is a really important relationship
between these two things one relies on
the other now these sentences they're
all quite similar but there are some
really clear differences as well I mean
check out the verbs this is where the
main difference between these
conditional sentences are it's all in
the verbs you can see it right and the
meaning is different too we use each
type of
sentence in a different situation if you
haven't already noticed we have the zero
conditional the first conditional the
second conditional the third conditional
and I'm going to go through each type of
conditional sentence now one by one so
let's get started with the zero
conditional and I recommend that you
take some notes as we go through all of
these examples the zero conditional is
called the factual conditional if I get
sick I go to the doctor and it's one of
the easiest to remember because both
clauses are in the present simple tense
we have the if clause with the present
simple and then the present simple in
the main resort clause as well so if
this happens then this is what happens
we use the zero conditional to talk
about habits facts and truth you can't
argue about these things right
with these things we're not talking
about possibility it's fact if you put
ice in your drink
it melts see it's really simple so I
want you to practice by finishing this
sentence for me I want you to write your
sentence in the comments so that I can
check it if I eat remember
present simple present simple then we
have the first conditional which we used
to talk about possible and likely future
outcomes if I get sick I will go to the
doctor so it's possible that in the
future I'll get sick and if that occurs
I will probably go to the doctor so we
use if with the present simple and we'll
with our verb infinitive if it's hot
tomorrow I'll go for a swim at the beach
now am I sure that it will be hot
tomorrow no but it is summertime here in
Australia and if it is hot
it's highly likely that I will go for a
swim if you join the lingo to language
sprint you'll get lots of English
speaking practice so now it's your turn
to finish a sentence hmm if we leave now
complete that sentence in the comments
below
and feel free to also pause the video at
any time and write your own conditional
sentences down there for me to check now
we have the second conditional and we
use it when we want to imagine that the
present situation is different so if I
got sick I would go to the doctor this
is a hypothetical situation right it's
not real do I look sick I'm not sick
I'm imagining that the present situation
is different for some reason I'm
imagining that I'm sick now if that were
true I would go to the doctor now am I
really going to the doctor because I'm
not actually sick it's an unreal
situation but to express this in English
we use if with the past simple and then
would and the verb infinitive in the
result clause so we use the modal verb
would to show that we're imagining the
result don't forget that in English all
verbs that follow modal verbs are in the
infinitive form if I had more money I
would buy a boat now it's really common
and natural to use contractions in
conditional sentences I would definitely
say when I'm speaking naturally if I had
more money I buy a boat I'd heed you'd
evade this pronunciation is much more
common in spoken English okay so now
it's your turn to finish this sentence
if I finished work earlier finish that
sentence in the comments
there are lots of different uses for the
second conditional we use it to give
advice to give reasons why we can't do
something and generally just imagine
that life is different so I'm definitely
gonna have to go through all of those
different uses in detail in another
video very soon and the third
conditional is the past unreal
conditional if I had been sick I would
have gone to the doctor we use this
structure to imagine a different past
different to the one that actually
happened right we use if with the past
perfect and would have with the past
participle just to be clear the if
Clause did not actually happen but I'm
imagining the result if the past was
different so in this situation was I
really sick I'm not talking about what
actually happened I'm talking about what
could have happened in the past but
didn't and what I would have done if
that had happened can you think of a
time when this grammar structure would
actually be useful when you regret
something in the past something that
happened in the past and you wished that
that result was different if we had
looked at the weather report we would
have stayed home if I had known you were
visiting I would have made time to see
you okay it's your turn now if I had
remember the structure let's do it
pause the video if you need to so that
you can write your sentence in the
comments below so that was an overview
of conditional sentences in English now
with all of this in mind it is possible
to use mixed conditional sentences too
but I think that's a lesson for another
day
this lesson was a summary or an overview
of the different types of conditional
sentences so if you want me to explain
any of them in more detail to give you
lots of different examples and to share
some practice activities with you then
let me know
whichever conditional sentence has the
most requests will be the one that I
make first so make sure you put in your
request down in the comments below I'll
make sure that I link to that lesson
right here once it's finished but for
now check out either of these two
lessons and make sure you're subscribed
so you know when the next lesson is
coming I'll see you soon