Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com and in this English lesson,
I'm going to give you an introduction to the first
conditional. Now, I see a lot of confusion
with the different conditionals in English, so
English learners can make mistakes here, and I see a lot of mistakes
So, hopefully, after this video you'll have a better understanding of how to
use it
and then also later in the video I'm going to compare it to the second
conditional
because this is where I see most confusion. But first,
let's have a look at video well I used the first conditional;
a video that I posted on Facebook.
"The problem is it might rain so if it rains then we'll probably
do something else instead." So, in the video, I said,
"The problem is it might rain. So
if it rains, we'll probably do something else instead."
So you can see here I'm using the first conditional:
If it rains, we'll probably do something else instead.
Now, the first conditional is used to talk about real
possibilities in the future, so
the real possibility here is the rain
and us maybe doing something else instead
so that's what we're talking about we're talking about real situations.
And just to give you more context, before I said this
in the video, I was talking about going to see some
chickens with my son but we were worried about the weather
because it was maybe going to rain and
it did rain. So, we didn't go to see the chickens...
but when we use the first conditional we talk about these real possibilities in
the future.
Now, there are many ways that you can use the first conditional
we can use if in the first clause,
or when; as soon as... and in the second clause
we can use things like: will, going to, might,
should or the imperative, so there are many ways that we can use it.
Additionally, we can use the clauses
the other way around. And we're gonna see some examples now that are going to show you this:
You must get the burger
if you go to that restaurant. So,in this case,
we're giving strong advice: you must get that burger
if you go to that restaurant, and the
if clause is at the end this time, so
you can see the difference here. When I'm older
I'm going to travel the world. So, I'm using when here
because it's a certainty; talking about a certain situation in the future:
When i'm older not if I'm older but when I'm older.
I'll tell him as soon as I see him.
So, in this example, we're using as soon as.
if you like it.
you should buy it. if you like it you should buy it.
This is something I always tell my wife she says, "Should I buy this?"
and I say, if you like it, and you can afford it,
you should buy it!" Now. let's have a look at the difference between the first
conditional
and the second conditional. So, imagine that your football or soccer team
is playing in the World Cup final next week.... you might say something like,
"If we win, the country will go crazy!"
"If we win, the country will go crazy!" In the second example,
the World Cup isn't taking place at the moment,
so there isn't a World Cup at the moment; this is what you would say,
"If we won the World Cup, the country
would go crazy!" So, you can see the difference
because when you're soccer team is playing in the World Cup final next week
this is a real possibility in the future. If your team
isn't playing, then it's an imaginary situation
and that's why we use the second conditional. Now, one last thing I want to
say:
In the first conditional with
the if clause we always use the present simple:
if we win.
What I want you to do now is this: write a sentence using the first conditional
below
and make it relevant to you, so try to make it relevant to your situation
and your life. So, I hope this video has been useful for you
if it has, then please share it with your friends.
Thanks for watching and see you next time!