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The Second Conditional

The document discusses the second conditional, which uses the past simple after "if" followed by "would" and the infinitive. It has two uses: to talk about unlikely future possibilities or impossible present situations. The second conditional expresses something less probable than the first conditional, which is used for more likely hypothetical statements. Some examples are provided to illustrate the difference between the conditional tenses.

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Dard Tong
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46 views1 page

The Second Conditional

The document discusses the second conditional, which uses the past simple after "if" followed by "would" and the infinitive. It has two uses: to talk about unlikely future possibilities or impossible present situations. The second conditional expresses something less probable than the first conditional, which is used for more likely hypothetical statements. Some examples are provided to illustrate the difference between the conditional tenses.

Uploaded by

Dard Tong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Second Conditional

The second conditional uses the past simple after if, then 'would' and the infinitive:

if + past simple, ...would + infinitive

(We can use 'were' instead of 'was' with 'I' and 'he/she/it'. This is mostly done in formal writing).

It has two uses.

First, we can use it to talk about things in the future that are probably not going to be true. Maybe I'm
imagining some dream for example.

If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house.(I probably won't win the lottery)
If I met the Queen of England, I would say hello.
She would travel all over the world if she were rich.
She would pass the exam if she ever studied.(She never studies, so this won't happen)

Second, we can use it to talk about something in the present which is impossible, because it's not true.
Is that clear? Have a look at the examples:

If I had his number, I would call him. (I don't have his number now, so it's impossible for me
to call him).
If I were you, I wouldn't go out with that man.

How is this different from the first conditional?


This kind of conditional sentence is different from the first conditional because this is a lot more
unlikely.

For example (second conditional): If I had enough money I would buy a house with twenty bedrooms
and a swimming pool (I'm probably not going to have this much money, it's just a dream, not very
real)

But (first conditional): If I have enough money, I'll buy some new shoes (It's much more likely that I'll
have enough money to buy some shoes)

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