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There are a number of structures in English that are called the conditionals which are used to talk about possible or imaginary situations. A "Condition" is a "situation or circumstance". For example: If a certain condition is true, then a particular result happens. Conditions are situations that must happen to change another situation. The structure of the conditionals is straightforward. There are two basic possibilities in terms of order in the sentence: A conditional sentence has two parts: The if clause, which tells us about the condition. The result clause, which tells us about the situation being effected These clauses can be in either order.
English Conditional sentences are usually classified according to the tenses used as: Zero,first,second or third conditional.
| Conditional | Tense |
|---|---|
| conditional | |
| First conditional | present simple |
| Second conditional | past simple |
| Third conditional | Past perfect |
We often use conditionals to talk about things that may happen in the future. This is the first type of conditional sentence. Sometimes we use conditionals to talk about things as ideas. If we are talking about ideas or hypotheses, we use the past form of the verb. This is the second form of conditional statement.
