Third conditional -Unit: 7

When do we use...

Conditional Sentences Type III?

Third Conditional Structure

The third conditional uses past perfect tense after IF, then WOULD HAVE and the PAST PARTICIPLE form of the verb.

If + past perfect, ...would have + past participle

Ex.: - If Sue had stayed in the city, she would have found a new job.- I wouldn't have fallen over if I had taken skiing lessons.

Third Conditional Structure

The third conditional uses past perfect tense after IF, then WOULD HAVE and the PAST PARTICIPLE form of the verb.

If + past perfect, ...would have + past participle

Ex.: - If Sue had stayed in the city, she would have found a new job.- I wouldn't have fallen over if I had taken skiing lessons.

We use it when ...

we want to talk about imaginary past situations that didn't happen. We use it to say how things could have been different in the past.

We use the If + past perfect clause for the imaginary past situation (condition), and we use the would/wouldn't have + past participle verb, to talk about the imaginary past consequence (result).

Ex.: - If Sue had stayed in the city, she would have found a new job.- I wouldn't have fallen over if I had taken skiing lessons.

REMEBER!

• Would/wouldn't/could/couldn't are the same for all persons.
• Contractions: 'd=would / wouldn't=would not /´d = had
• The If clause can come first or second. If the If clause comes first, we usually put a comma before the next clause.

Now, let's go back to the platform and start practising!