THE ZERO CONDITIONAL
'IF' CLAUSE
(CONDITION)
MAIN CLAUSE
(RESULT)
If + simple present
If you heat ice
If it rains
simple present
it melts.
you get wet
THE ZERO CONDITIONAL
If you heat water to 100 degrees…
… it boils.
THE ZERO CONDITIONAL
If water gets below freezing…
… it turns into ice.
THE ZERO CONDITIONAL
If you don’t water plants,…
… you get purple.
If you add two and two,…
When the traffic light changes to amber,…
If you cross an international date line, …
When I am stressed, …
THE 1ST CONDITIONAL
If I don’t have a lot of work
today, I’ll go home early and
watch the football game.
TOM
We use the 1st conditional to talk about a
general/specific situation in the future:
if (present) + future (will, might, going to)
(when, as soon as, unless)
THE 1ST CONDITIONAL
Tom: I have a horrible headache…
You: If you take an aspirin,…
If we don’t protect elephants, ...
You won’t pass the course if…
I’m going to... as soon as I get home.
You might … higher insurance if you buy a sports car.
THE 2ND CONDITIONAL
If I don’t have a lot
of work today, I’ll
go home early and
watch the football
game.
(optimistic) TOM
If I didn’t have
so much work,
I’d go home and
watch the
football game.
(real) TOM
THE 2ND CONDITIONAL
We use the 2nd conditional to talk about an unreal or imaginary
situation and its result or consequence:
if (past) + would, could)
If I didn’t have so much work, I’d go home early
tonight. (but I HAVE a lot of work tonight, so I won’t
probably go home early)
If I won the lottery, I’d buy a new car. (but what are
the chances that I win the lottery?)
If I could choose my ideal job, I’d be an architect.
(but I’m a teacher)