Conditionals in English: Overview

Conditionals are if-sentences that are frequently used in English. This article offers a complete overview of the different conditionals.

Conditionals

Conditionals are if-sentences in English in which you have a condition and the result of that condition. These sentences consist of two parts: a conditional clause (if-clause) where you find the condition and the main clause, which is where you have the result of the condition.

There are 4 conditionals that are used in different situations:

• Zero Conditional
• First Conditional
• Second Conditional
• Third Conditional

Overview conditionals

You have a schematic overview of the different conditionals below. There is information on how to form them when to use them and there are also some examples.

	Zero Conditional	First Conditional	Second Conditional	Third Conditional
Use	Situations that are always true.	Situations that are possible and can happen in the present and future.	Hypothetical situations that are not likely to happen in the present and future.	Imaginary situations in the past that did not happen.
Form	if + present simple // present simple	if + present simple // will/won’t + infinitive	if + past simple // would/wouldn’t + infinitive	if + past perfect // would/wouldn’t + have + past participle
Example	If I heat water, it eventually boils.	If I study, the exam will be easy.	If I won the lottery, I would buy a new car.	If he had received an award, he would have gone crazy.

	Zero Conditional	First Conditional
Use	Situations that are always true.	Situations that are possible and can happen in the present and future.
Form	if + present simple // present simple	if + present simple // will/won’t + infinitive
Example	If I heat water, it eventually boils.	If I study, the exam will be easy.

	Second Conditional	Third Conditional
Use	Hypothetical situations that are not likely to happen in the present and future.	Imaginary situations in the past that did not happen.
Form	if + past simple // would/wouldn’t + infinitive	if + past perfect // would/wouldn’t + have + past participle
Example	If I won the lottery, I would buy a new car.	If he had received an award, he would have gone crazy.

Exercises about the conditionals

• Zero Conditional Exercise 1
• Zero Conditional Exercise 2
• Zero Conditional Exercise 3
• Zero Conditional Exercise 4
• Zero Conditional Exercise 5

• First Conditional Exercise 1
• First Conditional Exercise 2
• First Conditional Exercise 3
• First Conditional Exercise 4
• First Conditional Exercise 5

• Second Conditional Exercise 1
• Second Conditional Exercise 2
• Second Conditional Exercise 3
• Second Conditional Exercise 4
• Second Conditional Exercise 5

• Third Conditional Exercise 1
• Third Conditional Exercise 2
• Third Conditional Exercise 3
• Third Conditional Exercise 4
• Third Conditional Exercise 5

Related articles

• Present Simple
• Past Simple
• Past Perfect
• Will-future
• Verbs