Conditionals are sentences that describe a ‘condition’ and thus have an ‘if’ clause.
Some conditionals that are commonly used in English are explained below.
| Condition | Form | Example |
| Routine or Habit | If + simple present, simple present | If the weather is nice, I go to the beach. |
| Future Possibility |
If + simple present, simple future | If I go to London, I will post the parcel to him. |
| Hypothetical | If + simple past, would + infinitive | If I had a bigger house, I would invite more guests. |
| Not Possible Now | If + past perfect, would have + past participle | If I had passed the exam, I would have become an engineer by now. |
When a conditional begins with ‘ if ‘, a comma usually separates the condition (first part of the sentence) from the result (second part of the sentence). However, when the result appears at the beginning and the condition comes at the end, then a comma is not used at all.
Example:
If nobody is at home, I play loud music. (with comma)
I play loud music if nobody is at home. (without comma)
The word ‘then’ may or may not be used in conditionals, it is not necessary and is completely up to the user’s discretion. It is usually not used in modern everyday speech and writing.
Example:
If you lend me your watch, then I will lend you my shoes.
(with ‘then’)
If you lend me your watch, I will lend you my shoes.
(without ‘then’)
Some more examples of conditionals:
- If our teacher is absent, we play in the school ground.
- If Dad comes late, we start the dinner.
- If I get good grades, Mom will buy me a video game.
- If Sara goes to the supermarket, she will get me some eggs.
- If I plan to stop over at Grandma’s, I would let you know.
- If I were bad at my job, I wouldn’t be so successful today.
- If we had taken the last flight, we would have reached home by now.
- If he had seen Jessica, he would have given her your message.
- I lock the doors if I am alone.
- We will call you if we have a vacancy.
- If we are near your house, then we will call you.
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