Podcast 52 - B1 IELTS 4.5 Second Conditional

The structure of the first and second conditionals

Hello, and today I'm going to talk about the second conditional. In an earlier episode (episode 22), I talked about the first conditional. The second conditional is similar to the first conditional because it talks about [or can talk about] the future. So we can say for example,

If I go out tonight, I'll go to the cinema.

Second conditional - if I go out tonight, I'll go to the cinema

That is first conditional. The second conditional would be,

If I went out tonight, I would go to the cinema.

So the structure is,

If + subject + the past tense of the verb.

If I went out, and then a comma, and the next clause, or the next part of the conditional sentence is,

Subject + would, should, could, might + the infinitive.

If I went out tonight, I would go to the cinema, or I could go to the cinema, or I should go to the cinema. Or I might go to the cinema...

Differences between the first and second conditionals

But what is the difference then between the first conditional and the second conditional? Well, the structure of course, as we've just said, that there is a difference in meaning too. In the first conditional, I said, if I go out tonight, I'll = I will go to the cinema. This means it's very likely, I really think that I'm going to the cinema this evening. But the second conditional is more pessimistic. If I went out tonight, and I don't think I will go out. But if I went out, I would go to the cinema. I don't think I'm going out tonight, because I've got a bit of a headache. I don't feel like it. So we use the second conditional to talk about events that probably won't happen, we don't think they'll happen.

Just another word about the structure of the past tense use of the verb in the second conditional. If I went out tonight, now it's not a past tense at all, is it? Because really, we're talking about something which is going to happen in the future. In English, we don't have what we call a subjunctive. So what we need to do is to find another verb form to substitute this subjunctive use, as many languages have, such as Spanish or French. So in English, we use the past tense if I went out tonight, but remember, it isn't a past at all.

In fact, the subjunctive in English... there is a little difference in the verb to be when we talk in the second conditional. So I could say for example,

If I was rich, I would buy a yacht.

But we can also say, and I think it sounds nicer,

If I were rich, I would buy a yacht.

If I were rich, and we can use words for all the persons, if he were rich, if she were rich.

Hypothetical situations

So let's look at a few more examples. As I've said, the second conditional talks about things which are not really likely - not really probable. So, for example, we would use the second conditional to say,

If I won the lottery, I would buy a yacht.

A yacht is a big sailing boat. And we talk about things which are impossible, perhaps. But we use the second conditional to express something totally hypothetical.

If I could fly, I escape from here today.

But I don't have wings, I can't fly.

If you are more intelligent, you would pass your exams.

But you're not, ;-) so you're going to have difficulties with your exams!

We also use another structure or verb in the second conditional. And these words are wish. And if only. And they also talk about hypothetical situations. Situations, which are really things that we can dream about. Examples.

If only I had a bigger car, I could take the whole family out.

So notice then, if only + past tense, which is really a subjunctive - if only I had a bigger car, I could, it would be possible to take the whole family out to the countryside, for example.

I wish I were/was richer, I would buy a new house.

Both of these expressions, if only and I wish, talk about dreams that we have, but which are quite improbable - quite unlikely, unfortunately.

Okay, so that's all I'm going to say about the second conditional [for now]. Thank you very much for listening, and bye for now.

Exercise on second conditional (various modals)...

Exercise on second conditional (modal 'would')...