اللغة الإنجليزية فصل ثاني

GRAMMAR

 

  The second conditional

 

• If it is hot today, I will go swimming.
• If I had a lot of money, I would buy a big house. 

 

 

The Second Conditional

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

• if + past simple, ...would + infinitive

 

It has two uses:

1-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)

2-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 will buy some new shoes.

(It's much more likely that I'll have enough money to buy some shoes)

The structure of a second conditional sentence

Like a first conditional, a second conditional sentence consists of two clauses, an “if” clause and a main clause:

“If” clause	Main clause
If I had a million dollars,	I would buy a big house.

If the “if” clause comes first, a comma is usually used. If the “if” clause comes second, there is no need for a comma:

Main clause	“If” clause
I would buy a big house	if I had a million dollars.

We use different verb forms in each part of a second conditional:

“If” clause	if + subject + simple past verb
Main clause	subject + would + verb

*Note that this "simple past" form is slightly different from usual in the case of the verb BE. Whatever the subject, the verb form is "were", not "was": If I were rich, I'd buy a big house.

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