What happens IF.......

Download the PDF for grammar explanation

We are always trying to guess what would happen if this or that were true.... We use a lot of conditional sentences. If you want to discover how easy it is, just think about the possibility something has to happen in the real world:

the closer to the present time, the more possible    If I study, I`ll pass all my final tests

the farther to the present time, the less possible      If I had studied, I would have passed all my 2nd term tests

Now use an example of real people,

people you know    
 If my mother asks me, I always answer the truth

people you don't have contact with  

If I were Merkel's son , I would always be true to her

people who are dead
 If I had been Marylin, I would have never taken pills

Have you noticed that we use past tenses for not possible situations?
Are you aware that present tenses are used for possible situations?

• What's odd in "I were"? Is it not " I was"?  We use "were" in the second conditional for all the forms of the verb "to be"
• Sometimes we change the structure of the sentences, ussually with interrogative sentences.

             Would you have taken pills if you had been Marilyn Monroe?

              in these cases we don't write any commas

• Remember that IF+NOT= UNLESS. This word can be used with any of the conditional sentences
• you have to review the most used verb tenses with conditionals

explanations and exercises here

more exercises here

what if God was one of us with lyrics 2nd conditional

If I were a boy  Beyonce

I will survive. Demi Lovato

                                                       The Lorax