Hello everyone! This is teacher Carol Pinho, and here is our new episode of Carol Tips! Remember that this audio tapescript is available in the podcast description!

This is the Last Episode of a series of four, talking about CONDITIONALS. If you haven’t listened to the other three ones, check there in the other episodes and listen to the other ones as well, ok?

Today we will talk about the THIRD CONDITIONAL. This conditional doesn’t talk about facts or obvious things, like the ZERO CONDITIONAL or about things that have a real possibility to happen, like the FIRST CONDITIONAL, or even about IMAGINARY or HYPOTHETICAL situations, like the SECOND CONDITIONAL

THIRD CONDITIONAL talks about THE PAST. In this conditional, we imagine what could have happened if an imaginary situation had occurred in the past.

For example:

If I hadn’t had kids, I would have studied abroad.

The reality is: I’ve had two kids.

So, in the THIRD CONDITIONAL, we imagine what would have happened, or what someone would have done in situations that are not real, in the past.

If my husband hadn’t worked with me, we wouldn’t have met each other.

My husband and I worked together in the past and we met at work.

In all of these examples, I have a IMAGINARY CONDITION IN THE PAST. In the sequence, we have the imagined CONSEQUENCES for that condition, in the past as well.

The structure of THIRD CONDITIONAL is:

IF + PAST PERFECT, (COMMA) WOULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE of the verb (which is the 3rd column of the verb)

We use IF and PAST PERFECT for the condition (like in: “If I hadn’t had kids…..”) and we use WOULD (or in the negative WOULDN’T) + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE for the CONSEQUENCE (like: “I would have studied abroad”).

Note that, when we say PAST PERFECT, the structure is HAD + PAST PARTICIPLE (or the 3rd column), like in:

He had bought

I had cleaned

When we need the negative, we use the auxiliary verb in the negative form, HADN’T, such as:

I hadn’t gone there

We hadn’t spoken to the policeman

For the CONSEQUENCES, we use WOULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE. We don’t use HAS, even if the subject is HE, SHE or IT ok? For example:

I would have drunk

She would have seen

Coming back to the THIRD CONDITIONAL… We must remember that IF and WOULD are never on the same clause, which means, they are never on the same side of the sentences. IF comes together with PAST PERFECT, and WOULD or WOULDN’T come separate, for the consequence, with HAVE and the verb in the PARTICIPLE form.

Other examples of third conditional are:

She would have been on time for the interview if she had left the house early. (I know by this sentence that she arrived late for the interview)

If I had studied more, I would have passed the test. (the reality is that I didn’t study enough, so I didn’t pass the test)

If we hadn’t traveled so much last year, we would have saved more money. (we traveled a lot, so we didn’t save money)

That’s it! Hope you like it! See you on the next episode of Carol Tips