Using conditional sentences

There are several ways of the conditionals in English. Here you have a diagram:

TYPE	MEANING	IF-CLAUSE	MAIN CLAUSE
Type 0 or REAL	General truth; you can substitute if for when	Present If you boil water	Present it evaporates
Type 1 or  REAL	Possible condition; it is likely to happen	Present If I have time	Future I’ll go to the cinema
Type 2 or UNREAL	Improbable condition; it is very hypothetical this could happen	Simple past If I could buy a new car	Simple conditional I’d take a van
Type 3 (not included)	Impossible conditional; this is referred to the past and it is more connected with regrets	Past perfect If I’d known you were coming	Perfect conditional I would have made your favourite dish
Mixed conditional (not included)	The condition is a regret but the results are in the present	Past perfect If I’d thought about that twice	Simple conditional I wouldn’t have so many problems

When we talk about using present or future, it means that they might be in the simple, continuous, perfect or perfect continuous form, depending on the message.

Now you can do these exercises to practise:

• http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/if.htm
• http://eslgamesworld.com/members/games/ClassroomGames/Billionaire/Conditionals%20Billionaire%20Game/index.html : a funny video to use conditionals. Be careful with the 3rd type or impossible conditional.

You can have a lot of examples of conditional in songs; here you have some:

• UNREAL CONDITIONAL: "If I Were a Rich Man" with susbtitles; click here
•  Another exaqmple: "What if You " click here