Welcome to Series English, my dear friends.
My name is Antonia Romaker.
And today we are going to talk about conditional sentences.
As you already probably know
there are several types.
There's one, two, three
and actually zero,
and there are mixed conditional sentences too.
Today we'll talk about the first, the second
and the third conditional in more details.
I'll also mention zero conditional
and mixed conditional, but very briefly.
So let's get cracking and start with the first type!
The first conditional.
Here we deal with a real situation
in present or in future.
For example: 'If you don't study idioms and phrasal verbs,
you won't sound like a native speaker'.
So this is more or less a general statement.
If something happens, there will be a result.
A certain result, the result.
So it is a real situation, everything is quite easy.
What structure do we use here?
In the IF clause, here
we use Present Simple or Present Continuous.
So we state something.
And in the relative clause we use Future Simple
or Present Continuous in the meaning of Future,
because we say the result - what will happen.
Once again let's take a look.
If you don't study - don't study - this is Present Simple,
you won't sound - you will not sound -
this is Future Simple.
If you don't study idioms and phrasal verbs,
you won't sound like a native speaker.
So please do study them.
Let's take a look at three more examples from a TV show.
Three examples, as promised.
All of them are from 'How I met your mother' TV show.
The first two are from the fourteenth episode of the first season
and the second is from the thirteenth episode of the first season.
Let's take a closer look.
Baby, there's something I have to do
and if I do it in front of you
it'll change the entire nature of our relationship.
Here - If I do it - we have Present Simple,
it will change - Future Simple.
If we go out there and spoil the mood, it's not gonna happen.
Once again here we have - if we go out - Present Simple,
it's not gonna happen -
and here we have the construction 'to be going to'
so it is Present Continuous in the meaning of Future.
And once again we are dealing with a real situation
in present or future.
And the last example.
And if I walk in there, I'm robbing both of us
of this wonderful moment, of this wonderful memory.
Actually Ted didn't finish this sentence,
he was interrupted by Barney.
He was getting impatient.
But the structure works, still works.
If I walk in there - Present Simple, a simple condition,
and the result - I'm robbing both of as,
the same as I'm going to rob or I will rob.
So the result in future,
and in this case we use once again Present Continuous
in the meaning of future.
The second type of conditional sentences
presupposes an unreal situation in present or future.
So here it is not true,
we are just imagining things.
If I had a train I would go to France right now.
But I don't have a plane, I'm just imagining.
If I had a plane, I would go to London right now... to New York...
In the IF clause we use Past Simple
and in the relative clause we have 'would' plus the infinitive,
plus the verb itself.
And here as you can see I wrote 'could',
So instead of 'would' we can also sometimes use 'could',
but 'would' is of course much more common.
Let's return to the example.
If I had a plane - I had - that is Past Simple,
I would go - so we have 'would' and the infinitive,
the verb in its initial form - go.
And we have an unreal situation in present or future.
We are imagining things in present or future.
Two examples once again from 'How I met your mother' TV show -
the thirteenth episode and the tenth.
If you have an opportunity to watch these episodes
and hear those examples, analyze them - please do.
It would do you good, it would be extremely helpful!
This is a conversation between Ted and Victoria -
a couple who have just met.
Ted says:
It's too bad you are not gonna get some tonight.
He means sex.
And she answers:
Oh, if I wanted some I could get some!
Let's take a look at the structure.
If I wanted - in the IF clause we have Past Simple,
I could get - 'could' plus the infinitive, what I have mentioned before.
We can use 'could' here.
The second example.
We are just friends. Look, it would not be smart, if we got together.
It was said by Ted about him and Robin,
if I'm not mistaken.
And he thinks that it would not be smart,
if they got together. He imagines.
If they got together in present or in future,
it would not be smart, it would not be a good idea.
He is imagining, it's an unreal situation.
Well it can happen but it is not true right now
at the moment of speaking.
And the third type of conditional sentences
is used also with an unreal situation
but in this case in the past.
Not in present or future, but in the past.
So it happened already,
you can't change anything about it, it's done.
If I had had an opportunity to help you,
I would have done it.
For example let's say yesterday
if I had had an opportunity to help you, I would have done it.
So yesterday I didn't have an opportunity to help you
and I didn't help you. Sorry.
It's in the past, an unreal situation, we are imagining things
in the past.
In the IF clause we use Past Perfect,
the auxiliary verb 'had' plus the verb with the ending -ed
or the third form of an irregular verb.
And in the relative clause we have 'would' plus 'have'
plus the main verb with the ending -ed
or the third form of an irregular verb.
So here we have 'would' plus a perfect infinitive -
would have done.
'Done' is the third form of the irregular verb 'do'.
The first example is from 'How I met your mother' TV show
the twelfth episode of the first season.
Ted told one of his friends who was about to get married,
the bride, that he checked... that he had checked 'plus one',
and he wanted to bring a date.
But the bride said:
If you had checked 'plus one',
I would have called you to get the name of your guest
so I could have the place cards printed out.
So she's talking about the past, the situation.
She says, that he didn't check 'plus one'.
Because if he had checked,
she would have called him, and she didn't.
So it is an unreal situation in the past.
Notice the structure,
in the IF clause we have Past Perfect,
and in the relative clause we have 'would have called',
'would' plus the perfect infinitive - 'have called'.
And once more example connected with, well, marriage, weddings.
If he had asked her to marry him,
she would have said 'yes'.
So once again here we are talking about the past.
The condition in the past - if he had asked her,
and the result in the past - she would have said 'yes'.
The problem is that he didn't ask her.
So she didn't say 'yes'.
OK, that's it about three types - the first, the second and the third.
And as I have promised
very briefly about zero conditionals and mixed conditionals.
So as for zero conditionals here we deal with general facts,
usually scientific facts, for example:
If you warm ice, it melts.
Present Simple, Present Simple.
And as for mixed conditionals,
they are a little bit more complicated.
Usually here combine the third type with the second type,
or the second type with the third type.
The first case is much more common,
let's take a look at an example.
If he'd gone to university,
he might have a better job.
The condition is in the past -
if he'd gone to university,
before, some time ago.
And he might have a better job now.
So the condition is in the past,
that's why we have the third conditional type here.
But the result is in present.
And it is unreal, we are imagining things,
that's why here we have the second type.
And the opposite situation.
If he weren't so lazy,
he would have been promoted long before.
Here the first part of the sentence
It's connected with some general quality of this person.
So it is more or less connected with present,
the person is lazy, he is lazy.
And the second part of this sentence is connected with the past.
So he would have been promoted before,
a year ago, five years ago.
If he weren't so lazy now or in general, always,
he would have been promoted long before.
OK I will devote a separate class to mixed conditionals,
because they are a little bit confusing.
So we'll focus on them a little bit later.
But that's it for today, I hope that today
you learned more about conditional sentences,
and now you have a better understanding.
And if you have questions, as usual fell free to write to me,
write a comment.
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And I hope to see you soon!
Happy English and Russian practice! Bye-bye!