ZERO CONDITIONAL

Conditional clause Main clause (result) Use

- Permanent situations, unchangeable

IF / WHEN / UNLESS + PRESENT SIMPLE Subject + PRESENT SIMPLE truths.
(if not) - Repeated actions when a determined
condition appears.

Examples: If I heat ice, it melts.

My granny can’t read unless she has her glasses on.
When I drink too much coke, I can’t sleep
 FIRST CONDITIONAL: real situations

Conditional clause Main clause (result) Use

Subject + FUTURE SIMPLE (WILL) - The situation is likely to happen if the

IF / UNLESS + PRESENT SIMPLE IMPERATIVE + base condition takes place. We also use it in
(if not) MODAL SIMPLE form orders (imperative).

Examples: If you study harder, you will get better results.

If you see the English teacher, tell her that I’m looking for her.
Unless you study harder, you will fail (if you don’t study harder, you will fail).
If you lose your documents in London, you have to go to the police station.
TIME CLAUSES: When we talk about the future, we use AS SOON AS, WHEN, BY THE MOMENT…
These clauses use the same structure as the 1st conditional.
As soon as you pass the bank, you will see the museum (when you pass the bank…)
 SECOND CONDITIONAL: unreal/hypothetical situations

Conditional clause Main clause (result) Use

- The situation is not likely to happen in

IF / UNLESS + PAST SIMPLE Subject + SIMPLE CONDITIONAL (WOULD) + base the present, given the current situation
(if not) COULD/MIGHT (minor possibility) form
Careful: with the verb to be, we always use
WERE.

Examples: If I won 5 million dollars, I would buy a tiny mobile phone.

If I were you, I would read more and talk less.
My friend Ana may come to visit me more often if she lived in Spain.
 THIRD CONDITIONAL: impossible situations

Conditional clause Main clause (result) Use

- The situations are “impossible”,

IF / PAST PERFECT (HAD + P.P) Subject + PERFECT CONDITIONAL (WOUL HAVE) + P.P because they have already happened.
COULD/MIGHT HAVE We cannot change it anymore.

Examples: if I had studied more, I would have passed the test.

You could have seen the sunrise if you had woken uo earlier.
If you hadn’t downloaded a trojan virus, it wouldn’t have erased all the information in your computer.
 MIXED CONDITIONALS
Conditional clause Main clause (result) Use

- Situation that is inconsistent with reality, both

Subject + SIMPLE CONDITIONAL (WOULD) + base form in the past and at the present. None of the
IF / PAST PERFECT (HAD + P.P) COULD/MIGHT (less likely to occur) clauses are factual reality:
If I had studied at school, now I’s have a better
job

- Hypothetical situation that would have had a

IF + PAST SIMPLE Subject + PERFECT CONDITIONAL (WOUL HAVE) + P.P probable result, but it’s not the case now.
COULD/MIGHT HAVE (if I wasn’t scared of rats, I’d have chosen that
room)

Las oraciones subordinadas CONDICIONALES MIXTAS están integradas por proposiciones que se refieren a momentos distintos.

La primera expresa una situación que es contraria a la realidad, tanto en el pasado como en el momento actual. No podemos cambiar la condición, por
tanto, el resultado es hipotético.

La segunda se refiere a una situación real / hipotética presente que, de haberse cumplido, hubiera tenido un resultado probable en el pasado.