PAY ATTENTION TO TENSES TRANSLATING SIMPLE SENTENCES:
PRESENT UNREAL CONDITIONAL.
No tengo dinero, por tanto no puedo comprar un coche.
Si yo tuviera más dinero, me compraría un coche.
English: If I had more money, I would buy a car.
Mark es muy tímido. Por eso no tiene muchos amigos.
Si Mark no fuera tan tímido, tendría más amigos.
English: If Mark weren't so shy, he would have more friends.
No tenía dinero, por tanto no pude comprar un coche.
Si yo hubiera tenido más dinero, me habría comprado un coche.
English: If I had had more money, I would have bought a car.
Mark era muy tímido. Por eso no tenía muchos amigos.
Si Mark no hubiera sido tan tímido, habría tendido más amigos.
English: If Mark hadn't been so shy, he would have had more friends.
MORE EXAMPLES OF PRESENT UNREAL CONDITIONALS
Present unreal conditionals indicate a situation which is only imagined or in some-one’s mind. For instance:
| I wish I had a pony. If I had a pony, I would ride it every day. | (I don’t really have a pony.) (I imagine what I would do.) |
To form present unreal conditionals, use past tense in the if clause and would + verb in the main clause.
A: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
B: If I had a million dollars, I would invest it in the stock market.
A: What would you do if you didn’t have to come to school today?
B: If I didn’t have to come to school, I would go to the amusement park.
For present unreal conditionals, it is common to use were in place of all forms of ?be? in the if clause (regardless of the subject).
If I were you, I would get a lawyer.
If I were a lawyer, I would not charge you.
If she were a lawyer, Sheila would be rich.
Sometimes could can be used in place of would in the main clause:
If I had more free time, I could travel around the world.
If I were you, I would get a lawyer.
If I were a lawyer, I would not charge you.
If she were a lawyer, Sheila would be rich.
Sometimes could can be used in place of would in the main clause:
If I had more free time, I could travel around the world.
MORE EXAMPLES OF PAST UNREAL CONDITIONALS
- If I had owned a car, I would have driven to work. But I didn't own one, so I took the bus.
- She would have traveled around the world if she had had more money. But she didn't have much money, so she never traveled.
- I would have read more as a child if I hadn't watched so much TV. Unfortunately, I did watch a lot of TV, so I never read for entertainment.
- Mary would have gotten the job and moved to Japan if she had studied Japanese in school instead of French.
- If Jack had worked harder, he would have earned more money. Unfortunately, he was lazy and he didn't earn much.
- A: What would you have done if you had won the lottery last week?
B: I would have bought a house. - A: What city would you have chosen if you had decided to move to the United States?
B: I would have chosen Seattle.
EXCEPTION Conditional with Modal Verbs
There are some special conditional forms for modal verbs in English:would have + can = could have
would have + shall = should have
would have + may = might have
The words "can," "shall" and "may" cannot be used with "would have." Instead, they must be used in these special forms.
Examples:
The words "could," should," "might" and "ought to" include Conditional, so you cannot combine them with "would have."- If I had gone to Egypt, I could have learned Arabic.
- If she had had time, she might have gone to the party.
Examples:
- If I had had more time, I could have exercised after work.
- If he had invited you, you might have gone.
ACTIVITY
