Different ways of saying if

Hi guys, Dan from BBC Learning English here. In this lesson we’re going to look at five ways of saying ‘if’, without saying ‘if’. If you’re ready to begin, let’s get going. 90 seconds on the clock. Here we go.

Now, I’m reminded of a conversation that I had with a friend of mine. He said to me:

“If we go on holiday, shall we go to Europe?”

“Mmm,” I said, “ as long as we go somewhere hot, I don ‘t mind.”

As long as is our first way of saying ‘if’. It means ‘if and only if’. He said:

“Aah, somewhere hot? Suppose we go to America, would you like that? “

Mmm. Suppose is our second way of saying’if’. Unlike the other forms that we’re going to talk about today, suppose is usually used in two sentences. “Suppose we go to America, “ and then followed by a question, “would you like that?” Got it? Good.

I said to him:

“Listen, unless I get a tan, I ‘ll be really unhappy.”

Unless is our third way of saying ‘if’. It means ‘if not’ or ‘except if.’ And for more information about it you can find out in our previous lesson.

He said to me:

“Well, providing you sunbathe a lot, you ‘ll definitively get a tan.”

Providing is our fourth way of saying ‘if’. It also means ‘if’. A more formal version of providing is provided .

So I said to him:

“OK. On the condition that I get time off from work, we ‘ll go to America.”

On the condition is our fifth and final way of saying ‘if’. It’s extremely formal and mostly used in written forms so perfect for business letters.

I just made it. Can you believe it?

Now guys, for more information about this, just go to bbclearningenglish.com. I’ve been Dan, you’ve been fantastic and I’m out of here. Hope to see you soon. Bye.