STRUCTURE

Conditional sentences contain 2 clauses:

If the bus is late, I’ll phone you.
CONDITIONAL CLAUSE RESULT CLAUSE

We can change the order:

I’ll phone you if the bus is late.
(*in this case, no comma)
 TYPES OF CONDITIONALS
ZERO CONDITIONAL

1ST CONDITIONAL

2ND CONDITIONAL

3RD CONDITIONAL

The difference is the degree of probability they express.

 ZERO CONDITIONAL

Facts which are gererally true or scientific facts.

If you heat ice, it melts.

PRESENT SIMPLE PRESENT SIMPLE
 1ST CONDITIONAL

Probable future situations.

Promises & warnings.

If it rains, we will cancel the trip.

PRESENT SIMPLE WILL + INFINITIVE
 2ND CONDITIONAL
Improbable present or future situations.
If I won the lottery, I would travel a lot.
PAST SIMPLE WOULD + INFINITIVE

I
You
He/She/It + were
We
To give advice. You
They

If I were you, I wouldn’t do that.

 3RD CONDITIONAL

Hypothetical past situations.

(You are imagining a different past)
Regrets.
If we had left earlier, we wouldn’t have missed the train.
PAST PERFECT WOULD HAVE +
PARTICIPLE