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Third Conditional: Conditional We Talk About The Past. We Talk About A Condition in The Past That

The third conditional is used to talk about impossible or unlikely past situations. It uses the past perfect tense after "if" to refer to the impossible past condition, and "would have" plus the past participle to refer to the impossible past result. For example, "If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a car." The third conditional expresses regret or reproach about things that did not happen in the past but could have occurred under different circumstances.

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176 views3 pages

Third Conditional: Conditional We Talk About The Past. We Talk About A Condition in The Past That

The third conditional is used to talk about impossible or unlikely past situations. It uses the past perfect tense after "if" to refer to the impossible past condition, and "would have" plus the past participle to refer to the impossible past result. For example, "If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a car." The third conditional expresses regret or reproach about things that did not happen in the past but could have occurred under different circumstances.

Uploaded by

Diana Sañay G
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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THIRD CONDITIONAL

The first conditional and second conditionals talk about the future. With the third
conditional we talk about the past. We talk about a condition in the past that
did not happen. That is why there is no possibility for this condition. The third
conditional is also like a dream, but with no possibility of the dream coming true.

We make the third conditional by using the past perfect after 'if' and then 'would
have' and the past participle in the second part of the sentence:

 if + past perfect, ...would + have + past participle

Last week you bought a lottery ticket. But you did not win. :-(

if condition result

Past Perfect would have + past participle

If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a car.

Notice that we are thinking about an impossible past condition. You did not win
the lottery. So the condition was not true, and that particular condition can never
be true because it is finished. We use the Past Perfect tense to talk about the
impossible past condition. We use would have + past participle to talk about the
impossible past result. The important thing about the third conditional is that both
the condition and result are impossible now.

Look at these example senteces:

NOMBRE: DENISSE SAÑAY GONZALEZ. CURSO: 3/B CONTABILIDAD DOCENTE: LCDA.


NORMA TORRES
if condition result

Past Perfect would have + past participle

If I had seen Mary, I would have told her.

If Tara had been free yesterday, I would have invited her.

If they had not passed their exam, their teacher would have been sad.

If it had rained yesterday, would you have stayed at home?

If it had rained yesterday, what would you have done?

result if condition

would have + past participle Past Perfect

I would have told Mary if I had seen her.

I would have invited Tara if she had been free yesterday.

Their teacher would have been sad if they had not passed their exam.

NOMBRE: DENISSE SAÑAY GONZALEZ. CURSO: 3/B CONTABILIDAD DOCENTE: LCDA.


NORMA TORRES
result if condition

would have + past participle Past Perfect

Would you have stayed at home if it had rained yesterday?

What would you have done if it had rained yesterday?

Notice how this tense can be used to say that you regret doing something or when
you are telling someone off (reproaching someone). This type of conditional can
also be used when making excuses.

We can also change the word order of the sentence...

Would have + If + past perfect


EXAMPLE: You would have passed the exam if you had studied all of these
grammar pages.

 I wouldn't have left my job if I had known how difficult it is to find another
one.
 I would have taken a photo if I had brought my camera with me.
 He would have died if the ambulance hadn't arrived quickly.
 She would have gone to your birthday party if she hadn't been sick.
 He wouldn't have become lost if he had taken the map with him.
 The team would have won if the referee hadn't taken the bribe.
 You wouldn't haved needed fillings if you had brushed your teeth more
frequently.

NOMBRE: DENISSE SAÑAY GONZALEZ. CURSO: 3/B CONTABILIDAD DOCENTE: LCDA.


NORMA TORRES

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