Review of conditionals

Callum Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Grammar with me, Callum

Finn And me, Finn

Callum So Finn, what is our topic today?

Finn I don’t know.

Callum Haven’t you read the script?

Finn No, when I come to the studio, I read the script, not before.

Callum If you had read the script, you would know what it’s about.

Finn Well if you give me a few minutes, I’ll just give it a quick read.

Callum I’d love to give you a few minutes if we had the time. But this is 6 Minute Grammar, not 16 Minute Grammar.

Finn If I’d known you were going to be so bossy, I’d’ve stayed in bed.

Callum Mmm. So what is today’s topic? If you’ve been paying attention, you might have worked it out.

Finn We’ve had a lot of ‘ifs’, that is a bit of a clue.

Callum It is indeed. Today we’re reviewing conditionals.

Finn
Conditional sentences connect two things. One thing follows on from something else.

Callum Conditional sentences generally have two parts, the conditional clause , which is sometimes called the if clause , and a main clause . The if clause states a condition and the main clause has what happens because of that condition.

Finn And there are different kinds of conditional structures depending on whether we’re dealing with something in the present or past and if we’re talking about something real or imagined.

Callum We normally talk about four different conditional structures. The first one is called the zero conditional. Here’s an example from earlier. Let’s wind back a bit.

[sfx: tape rewinding]

Finn When I come to the studio, I read the script.

Callum Now Finn, what time does that refer to?

Finn It’s not really past, present or future, is it? It’s timeless. It’s always.

Callum And this is what the zero conditional is for. Things that are always true, things that always happen. One thing happens, something else follows.

Finn It’s also commonly used for general truths and facts. Like in these examples.

Feifei When you heat water enough, it boils. If you leave milk out long enough, it goes bad.

Callum And in zero conditionals, when and if have the same meaning. Let ‘s move on now to the first conditional.

[sfx: tape rewinding]

Finn Well if you give me a few minutes, I’ll just give it a quick read.

Callum Finn, what time does this refer to?

Finn This one is about something that might happen in the future. I’ll read the script.

Callum Will that definitely happen?

Finn No, it’ll only happen after a particular condition is met, and that condition is that you give me enough time.

Callum
With the first conditional, you can use when as well as if but unlike the zero conditional, they do have different meanings. Listen to these examples.

Feifei If I go to the shops, I ‘ll get some bread. When I go to the shops, I ‘ll get some bread.

Callum So Finn: “If I go to the shops”. Am I definitely going to the shops?

Finn
No, not this time. It’s a possibility, but not definite.

Callum And what about: “When I go to the shops”?

Finn In this one, using when , there is a definite plan to go to the shops.

Callum So the first conditional expresses a likely result of a possible or definite future condition.

IDENT
You’re listening to BBC Learning English.

Callum Today we’re reviewing different conditional forms.

Finn We’ve looked at zero and first conditionals, and it was Callum who gave us an example of the second conditional.

[sfx: tape rewinding]

Callum I’d love to give you a few minutes if we had the time.

Finn
What time does this refer to, Callum?

Callum It’s an imaginary present time - do we have the time now? No we don’t. It’s making a prediction about something that could be possible if something in the present were different. We’re imagining a different present reality.

Finn Wow. That’s very sci-fi, Callum!

Callum And now the third conditional. Let’s go back again and here the example.

[sfx: tape rewinding]

Finn If I’d known you were going to be so bossy, I’d’ve stayed in bed.

Callum Finn, what time are we talking about here?

Finn
We’re talking about the past, but something that didn’t happen in the past.

Callum Yes, you didn’t know when you got up this morning that I was going to be so bossy.

Finn No, my past action would have been different, if I had known. I would have stayed in bed!

Callum
So with the third conditional were imagining a different past reality.

Finn Very good. That’s right. Very sci-fi again Callum.

Callum Now, just time for a quick quiz. You’re going to hear a sentence and you need to work out whether it’s a zero, first, second or third conditional. Here’s the first one:

Finn
If you drop the price, you’ll sell more.

Callum That’s first conditional. Here’s the next one:

Finn If I were you, I’d take the job.

Callum And that one is second conditional. What about this one?

Finn When I’ve had a busy day, I want some peace and quiet when I get home.

Callum Did you get it? That was the zero conditional.

Finn Well done if you got all of those right.

Callum If we had more time we could tell you a lot more about conditionals.

Finn But we don’t, so we’re going to say goodbye for now, and remind you that there’s more about this topic on our website bbclearningenglish.com . Do join us again soon for more 6 Minute Grammar.

Both
Bye.