- If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,
my portfolio today would be worth...
Many of you watching this will know about the zero,
the first, the second, and the third conditional.
But did you also know that there
are mixed conditionals, too?
Hello, everybody this is Jack from tofluency.com
and in this English lesson we're going to look
at mixed conditionals.
We're going to look at lots of examples
so that you can understand how and when to use them.
But first let's talk about the conditionals
that you probably already know.
We're going to do this fairly quickly.
If you want a full tutorial on conditionals
then check out the description.
The first one, the zero, is this.
I get tired when I eat too much.
This is so true.
If I have a lot to eat I feel really tired.
Now the zero conditional is used
to talk about things in general.
Here is an example of the first conditional now.
If it rains, we won't go to the party.
The party is outside.
The party is real.
It is happening in the future.
But if it rains we won't go,
because we don't want to get wet.
So the fist conditional is used
for real situations in the future.
Let's now talk about hypothetical situations
using the second and the third conditional.
An example of the second conditional is this.
I would do it if I had more time.
So I don't have more time, therefore,
I'm not going to do it.
But in a hypothetical situation,
I would do it if I had more time.
And the third conditional is similar to the second,
but we're talking about hypothetical situations
in the past.
I would have done it if I had more time.
I didn't have time in the past,
therefore, I didn't do it.
So now we know the zero, first, second,
and third conditionals.
Let's now talk about mixed conditionals.
And to help me do that, here is a story.
In 2011, when my wife and I moved to Asheville
and I started teaching online
I had a little bit of money to invest,
and I wanted to make my first investment.
I had never invested in stocks or anything else before.
So I started doing a little bit of research.
I created a short list of three main options.
The stock market, gold, and Bitcoin.
If you don't know what Bitcoin is, it is this peer-to-peer
digital currency which has gained
a lot of attention recently.
And I remember being on certain websites
researching it and trying to figure out
exactly what this thing is.
And I was almost ready to invest.
But what put me off and what stopped me
from doing it was that it just sounded
so complicated.
The website I was on talked about cold and hot wallets,
online storage, the blockchain in general.
So, I didn't get any and I invested
in something else, instead.
Now here is the important part.
If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,
my portfolio today would be worth
1.5 million dollars.
Yeah.
But let's not talk about regrets
and think about the money that I could have now.
Instead, let's focus on the mixed conditional.
Look at that sentence again.
If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011
my portfolio would be worth 1.5 million dollars today.
What we're doing here is we're talking about
a past hypothetical event,
and how that relates
to a present hypothetical event.
We use this when we want to talk about
how something different in the past
would effect the present today.
Here is another example.
If I hadn't met my wife in Ecuador,
I wouldn't be living in America now.
So, I met my wife in Ecuador in 2007.
She is American and therefore we decided
to move to America.
But if I hadn't met my wife in Ecuador,
I wouldn't be living in America today.
Again, we're talking about how
a hypothetical situation in the past
would effect the present.
And one more example.
If he had listened during his English class,
he would have a higher level now.
If he had listened during his English class,
he would have a higher level now.
So this is quite advanced
and if you want to go back and listen
to those examples again,
I recommend you do so.
I'll also leave them in the description
and as the pinned comment.
Let's now look at another type of mixed conditional.
It's on your screen now.
If I weren't going to that wedding tomorrow,
I would have gone out last night.
If I weren't going to that wedding tomorrow,
I would have gone out last night.
What do you see here?
Well, the first clause talks about the future,
and the second clause talks about the past.
So, a hypothetical situation in the future
can effect a hypothetical outcome in the past.
Because I'm going to that wedding tomorrow,
I decided not to go out last night.
But, if I weren't going to that wedding tomorrow,
I would have gone out last night.
There are other types of mixed conditionals
which I'll talk about in a future video.
But here is one last piece of advice.
Don't force these mixed conditionals in conversations.
What I mean is, don't feel like you should use them
because they are advanced English.
Instead, know that they are used
for very specific situations.
Okay, now it is your turn.
Leave some examples of conditionals below.
Feel free to do this for zero, first, second,
third, or any mixed conditional.
But I just want you to practice a little bit.
Oh and here is one last example.
If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,
I would have sold it a long time ago.
Thank you for watching.
(upbeat music)