Después de aprender Subordinate Clauses, en está lección aprenderás Review of Conditionals.
El estado de ánimo condicional es uno de esos aspectos realmente interesantes y expresivos del inglés. La otra cara de la moneda, desafortunadamente, es que también puede ser bastante confuso decidir qué forma condicional se adapta mejor a su situación y luego formularla correctamente. Si estás considerando estudiar en un programa de habla inglesa, probablemente ya hayas estudiado los condicionales, por lo que esta publicación le servirá como una revisión rápida.
En aras de la simplicidad, daré la estructura gramatical de cada forma condicional en un formato «if … then«. Aunque este es un formato común para las expresiones condicionales, existen alternativas que puede explorar por su cuenta.
Zero conditional
If + present simple, then + future simple
The zero conditional is the easiest to construct because it can only exist in the present tense. We use it to describe laws of nature and other things that are always true. Because the condition is 100% certain, we often replace “if” with “when.”
- When it rains, the ground gets wet.
- If you study, you usually get good grades.
First conditional
If + present simple, then + future simple
First conditional deals with predictions for the future. As with zero conditional, we’re still dealing with a situation that is very likely to be true, although it’s not 100% certain. Whereas zero conditional deals with something that’s always true, first conditional is used to refer to a particular (usually one-time) situation.
- If you don’t go to bed on time, you’ll have trouble waking up.
- If they finish all their supper, they’ll get to have dessert.
Second conditional
If + simple past, then + would + verb
This is where it starts to get a little trickier. Second conditional is for situations that are theoretically possible, but may not be likely. Think of second conditional as the daydreaming conditional.
- What would you do if you won the lottery?
- If we had some bacon, we could have bacon and eggs, if we had eggs.
Third conditional
If + past perfect, then + would + present perfect
Third conditional is used to talk about alternative outcomes of past events. In other words, the situations that are described in third conditional are impossible, because the opportunity is already past.
- If I had been born to a diplomat, I would have lived in many places. (Implied information: I was not born a diplomat, and I have not lived in many places.)
- If I hadn’t missed the bus, I would have gotten to work on time. (Implied information: I did miss the bus, and I was late to work.)
En la próxima lección aprenderás Idioms.
