Present Conditional Video Lesson
This English grammar video gives a good overview and explanation regarding a constantly used grammatical chapter. The Present Conditional is also known as the “present unreal", the “present subjunctive mood" etc. It is used to describe situations and things that are or are not true at the moment of speaking. Using the word "if" has a strong influence over the sentence. In this video the present unreal conditional is described.
What is the Present (Unreal) Conditional?
The Present Conditional is used to describe situations and things that are or are not true at the moment of speaking. You might recognise this structure from if-sentences. (Type II if-sentences make use of this Conditional I) The Present Unreal Conditional is commonly used to describe situations and things which would happen in imaginary situations.
Form:
If + simple past …, … would + verb
... would + verb ... if ... simple past ...
Basic Examples
In the video several different examples are illustrated:
- If I had the time, I would visit you today. (you can also use could/might/etc. visit)
- If I had better eyesight, I wouldn’t need glasses. (I don’t have good eyesight. I need glasses.)
- If she went to school, she’d learn English. (she’d = she would)
Example with two negative verbs
Sometimes the Present Conditional is used with two negative verbs.
- If they didn’t live in a bad area, they wouldn’t need to call the police all the time. (They live in a bad neighbourhood and they need to call the police all the time.)
”be” becomes to “were”
In the Present Conditional the verb be becomes to were. Notice that normally you would say I/he/she/it was, but in the Present Conditional you say I/he/she/it were.
- If I were a businessman, I would probably work in an office. (I’m not a businessman, I work in a classroom. I don’t work in an office.)
- If she were here, she would help us.
- If she weren’t happy, she wouldn’t stay at her job.
- Of course, you can reverse the order of a sentence. Notice that there’s no comma in this structure.
- She wouldn’t stay at her job if she weren’t happy.
- If it were Monday, I would be at school. (I’m not at school now.)
further exercises:
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