TYPES OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

In general, there are 3 types of conditionals:

TYPE VERB PATTERN MEANING EXPLANATION

1 If __Present (V1)_____ , __Present FUTURE (will + V-inf.)_ Future possible
Present untrue (contrary to
2 If __Past (V2)________ , __Past FUTURE (would + V-inf.)_
the fact in the present)
The time is FUTURE. Conditional type 1 is
used to express something that is possible
to happen in the future.
The time is PRESENT. Conditional type 2 is
used to express something that is contrary
to the fact in the present time.

The time is PAST. Conditional type 3 is used

If _Past Perfect (had + V3) , _Past FUTURE Perfect (would have + Past untrue (contrary to the
3 to express something that is contrary to the
V3)_ fact in the past)
fact in the past time.
For examples of each type, see handout page 32.

Note on Verb Pattern: The clause with ‘IF’ is without ‘FUTURE’, and the clause without ‘IF’ is with ‘FUTURE’.

There is another type of conditional called type zero:

TYPE VERB PATTERN MEANING
habits, scientific facts, general
Ø If __Present (V1)_____ , ___Present (V1)______________
truths
In conditional type Ø, we can replace ‘if’ with ‘when’ or ‘whenever’.
Examples:
1. If/Whenever I have a headache, I take Panadol. (=habit)
2. If/When you mix yellow and blue, you get green. (=scientific fact)
3. If/When you heat ice, it melts. (=scientific fact)
4. It gets dark if/when the sun goes down. (=general truth)