Hello and welcome back to Easy English with James! Today we're going to have a look
at the Second Conditional! This is a part of English Grammar
that many students find very difficult and it's also
one that will help you to sound much more like a native speaker
and prove that your English is at a really advanced level!
So, if you want to learn how to use this perfectly, stick with me!
Ok! So,
what is the second conditional? As you may know there are
four different conditionals....the zero, the first, the second and
the third conditional. The Zero, first and
third we are not going to look at today, we are going to focus on the
second conditional. Why? Because it's one of the
most common things that you will hear in English, ok!
And it's also one that so many students get wrong..
Ok. The second conditional, what is it?
It is...something that is imaginary
that means NOT REAL. Ok. Very important, NOT REAL.
Not real or imaginary that you think will happen
in the future or might happen in the future. Ok.
The Second Conditional is used for unreal
not real or imaginary situations.
Situations that are in your head, they are not real.
They are possible, they are possibilities.
Ok. Again I want to emphasize they are not real!
It doesn't mean that they won't be real in the future but right now
they are NOT REAL. They only exist in
here. Now, the tricky part for this is that
all of what we are saying is taking place in our
heads, so, how do we know whether we should use the PRESENT, the
FUTURE or the PAST? Many students think..."If I'm thinking about
the Future, I should use the Future or if I'm thinking about the Past I
should use the Past or if I think about the Present I should use the Present BUT
with the second conditional we always use...
we always start with, the Past Simple. The Past
Simple. We start the sentence with an IF, that possibility
Yeah...IF this or IF that....So if...
Let's say...If I won the lottery
Lot's of money for me! If I won the
lottery I would buy a really big
house for my family! If I won the lottery I would buy a
really big house for my family! I didn't say
If I WIN the lottery, If I WIN the lottery...
In the present. I said if I WON and WON
is in the PAST. Why is it in
the past? The reason is that it's in my head
and I'm imagining in my head that it's already happened.
If I WON the lottery, what would I
do if I won the lottery. AFTER I won the lottery I
would....buy a car, buy a house. So I'm
buying the car and in the past before that, I won the lottery.
Ok. So if I won the lottery, I would buy a house.
If I won the lottery I would buy a
TESLA car. Ok, what would you do if you won the lottery...
Write that in the comments! I'm very interesting to know what you would do if
you won millions and millions of dollars on the lottery! ok!
But remember, again, if I won, if
I won. You could use this for any situation
that you're imagining. If I
slept early, I would wake up early.
If I slept early, in English we might actually "if I went
to sleep". If I went to sleep early, I would wake up
early. But in this sentence, the meaning is that right now
I don't go to sleep early. I don't normally go to sleep very
early. BUT, in my head if I went to sleep
early (i'm imagining) hmm...If I
went to sleep early, then I would wake up early.
I hope....probably. Ok. If I went to sleep
early, then I would wake up early. If I
always ate only healthy food
I would be very very healthy.
Ok. The meaning there is that I don't always eat
perfectly healthy food ok. Sometimes I like to have a chocolate bar
or a Coca Cola. Ok. But, if....
(I'm imagining in my head) If I always ate
(ate, again you'll notice PAST SIMPLE, always the past
simple). If I ate healthy food, then I
would be really really healthy. I would
look great. If I always ate healthy food
I would look great. If I always ate healthy food I would look great.
ok. What you can do if you want to practice the
second conditional is to continue the chain aroun
and around and around and around. You can start by
saying...If I ate healthy food I would look great...and then
link that with the next part of the sentence. If I
looked (changed to the past now, you'll notice it's now in the past).
If I looked great, I would become a
model. Change become to became...If I
became a model I would become
famous! If I became famous I would become rich! If
I became rich I would buy a car. If
I bought a car I would drive it around the UK where
I live! If I drove it around the UK
I would....see everything! If I
saw everything, I would probably get a little bit bored
and go home...If I went home, I would
be back in here making more English lessons for you to
learn! Ok. So, what we're gonna do with this fun little
way to practice is I'm going to start by saying a
sentence and I want you in the comments to finish this video
by continuing that chain! So look at the comment above yours
and continue the IF I WOULD chain!
So, if I won the lottery I would
have lots and lots of money...
YOU need to respond, If I had lots of money
I would....and then YOUR ANSWER. And then as many people in the
comments can write their own answers and we'll go as far as we can go!
Ok. Ok. So very very important, remember the second
conditional we start with IF, so that there is a choice, we don't know
if this or if that, it's possibility. And
then we'll say the event, but we use the Past Simple
If this HAPPENED then
this WOULD happen. If this
happened then this would happened. Ok. If I
got healthy then I would feel great!
Ok. So....practice them! Give me as many
conditionals as you can in the comments and I will correct them for you! Ok! That
was a nice short little grammar lesson, if you want to see any other grammar lessons
just write them again in the comments and I'll see if I can get around to making them in the
future! Ok! Thanks very much for joining me! Remember to hit that LIKE
and SUBSCRIBE button if you enjoy my lessons so you don't miss out on any
of them in the future and hopefully you get to really improve your English!
Ok! Hit that LIKE and SUBSCRIBE and I will see you again another time!
Bye Bye!