An Approach to Studying Second and Third Conditional Sentences in English, with Adult ESL Learners

English conditional sentences always contain a “condition” clause and a “result” clause (this last of which is also the main clause of the sentence). The condition clause (normally starting with “if”) cannot stand alone, whereas the main clause can.

The four types of English conditional sentences are:

“First Conditional”  Example: If it rains today, we will stay inside.

The condition clause (starting with “if”) is expressed in the present simple tense, and the “result” clause (the main clause) is expressed in the simple future tense.

The condition is the possibility of rain today, and the result of the condition coming true is that we will stay inside today.

The meaning of this sentence is that it might rain today, and because of the (possible) rain, we will stay inside. This is also called the “future possible” conditional. The speaker is talking about one possible event in the future that will lead to another event occurring. The sentence also implies plans to go outside given good weather.

The condition clause is expressed in the past simple tense, and the “result” clause is expressed with the future use of “would.” (This “would” could also be “might” or “could”; with some experimentation, other modals might be found to fit as well.)

The condition is my knowing the answer, and the hypothetical result of my knowing the answer is that I tell you (the answer).

The meaning of the sentence is not evident from the two clauses; the meaning is actually that I don’t know the answer, so I therefore can’t tell you. The speaker is referring to a present tense situation.

“Third conditional”  Example: If I had known the answer I would have told you.

The third conditional is the second of the two “hypothetical” conditional statements. It expresses a hypothetical situation or condition in the past that is contrary to the real past situation or condition, and its hypothetical past result.

The condition clause is expressed in the past perfect tense, and the “result” clause is expressed using the future perfect with “would have.” (Again, we could replace this “would have” with “might have”or “could have.”)

The condition is my having known the answer, and the hypothetical result of my having known the answer is that I told you (the answer).

The meaning of the sentence is still not evident from the two clauses; the meaning is actually that I didn’t know the answer and therefore couldn’t tell you. The speaker is referring to a past tense situation.

“Zero Conditional”  Example: If/when spring comes, the snow melts.

The condition clause is expressed in the present simple tense, and the “result” clause is expressed using the present simple as well. Notice that “if” and “when” are interchangeable to introduce the condition.

The condition in this sentence is spring coming, and the result, the snow melting, is certain. The meaning here is fairly straight forward. This type of conditional sentence refers to things that occur as a matter of nature or as habitual occurrences (“If he doesn’t like a book that he has started reading, he won’t finish it”).

Non-native speakers have a very hard time speaking or writing with English second and third conditionals mainly because the grammatical structures and tense sequences don’t “make sense” to them, that is, the different tenses and negative/positive verbs don’t correspond well to the surface meaning of the negative/positive verbs and the tenses. English conditional sentences are sophisticated expressions of cause and effect; students typically will find other, simpler ways to express the same ideas, and may in their own languages in fact have simpler ways of doing this. The tense sequences and relationships between the two clauses spell out the degree of possibility, probability and certainty governing the “effect” clause, but this cannot be processed intuitively by non-native speakers as it can be by native speakers. Like learning to use prepositions, the present perfect, or any of many phrasal verbs of the English language, only disciplined practice will help the learner master using English conditional sentences.

This practice must involve first understanding the meaning behind what one wishes to express by a second or third conditional sentence. This is where many ESL teachers go wrong—they focus mainly on form and less on meaning. Learners are unable to comfortably use conditional sentences because they cannot fully grasp the meaning expressed by the complex relationship between the two clauses. What I have discovered is that conditional sentences can be “reduced” to two-clause cause and effect sentences expressed with “so” or “because.” (This is definitely not my original idea—I borrowed it from a textbook somewhere, I cannot remember where, and it seems to work. In fact, I have noticed that students will often fall back on such sentences to express conditional ideas because of their relative simplicity.)

In this approach, learners wishing to express a cause and effect thought which includes a conditional start with a “so” or “because” sentence and find the meaning to be fairly explicit in its simplicity.

If I knew the answer, I would tell you.

I start by offering students two clauses, one that starts with “so”:

I don’t know the answer

So I can’t tell you the answer

And I allow students to make a full sentence out of this, “I didn’t know the answer, so I didn’t tell you.”

Then I show two very similar clauses, but here one starts with “because” and there isn’t one starting with ‘so”:

Because I don’t know the answer

I can’t tell you

(“So” introduces the result of a condition, and “because” introduces the condition itself.)

And I ask students to make a full sentence out of this, “Because I don’t know the answer, I can’t tell you (the answer).” A variation of this is “I can’t tell you the answer because I don’t know it.”

The variations of the combinations of these two clauses, with “so” or “because” can be discussed and worked out to any depth desired or appropriate.

Once we have taken a good look at these sentences and what they express (which is the same idea), I then give students the following two clauses:

If I knew the answer

I would tell you

I then match each of these two clauses to its corresponding clause in the “so” and/or “because” clauses (it may work better not to try to match to both “so” and “because” clauses, as this risks being confusing). I typically do this on the white board and discuss the corresponding “shifts” in tense and negativity of the verbs:

(because) I don’t know the answer › If I knew the answer (in this “if” clause we move from a present simple tense verb to a past simple tense verb, and from a negative verb to a positive one, or in other cases from a positive verb to a negative one)

(so) I can’t tell you › I would tell you (in this “result” clause we move from a present tense verb (with a modal) to a future tense with “would” and from a negative verb to a positive one, or in other cases a from a positive to a negative)

The last step here is to give students, working in pairs or in small groups, condition and result clauses of the “because” and “so” variety. I will give them twenty clauses that they can match together to form ten two-clause sentences with “so” and “because.” For ease of experimentation in matching the clauses, I will give these clauses on small cards or strips of paper.

Examples (scrambled):

I can’t find my keys

I can’t buy that book

the sun is not shining

I won’t eat it

I don’t have enough money

we won’t go on our picnic

there is a basketball game on TV

I can’t get into my car

this food is not tasty

we won’t go outside

Here we notice that the “result” clause in these simple sentences may be in the present tense simple, continuous, with a modal, or even future with will (which could be simple or continuous). All of these variations can be examined in our discussion of the sentences the pairs or small groups have created. In their small groups, I will ask students to first form their sentences with “so” or “because,” then transform them into second conditional sentences with “if” and then present their sentences to the whole group. In their presentations, I like to ask students to say, for example, “If that food were (was) tasty I would eat it, BUT that food is not tasty so I won’t eat it.” In this way the conditional sentence is juxtaposed with the “so” or “because” sentence, which aids in the students’ analysis.

A study of the third conditional can be made in a similar fashion. I point out that in respect to the meaning of these sentences, the third conditional is essentially the second conditional in the past.

Again, I will start out on the white board and discuss the corresponding “shifts” in tense and negativity of the verbs:

(because) I didn’t know the answer › If I had known the answer (in this “if” clause we move from a past simple tense verb to a past perfect tense verb, and from a negative verb to a positive one, or in other cases from a positive verb to a negative one)

(so) I couldn’t tell you › I would have told you (in this “result” clause we move from a past tense verb (here with a modal) to a future perfect tense with “would have” and from a negative verb to a positive one, or in other cases a from a positive to a negative)

Next, I will give the groups and pairs of students condition and result clauses of the “because” and “so” sentence variety, but this time in the past tense. If I am teaching a lesson of both the second and third conditionals I will use the same sentences for the third as I did for the second, as a way of allowing students the opportunity to compare the two, and also reducing the intellectual burden by adding familiarity to the task.

Examples (scrambled):

I wasn’t able to find my keys

I couldn’t buy that book

the sun wasn’t shining

I didn’t eat it

I didn’t have enough money

we didn’t go on our picnic

there was a basketball game on TV

I couldn’t get into my car

this food wasn’t tasty

we didn’t go outside

A follow-up exercise to these studies of the second and third conditionals is to have students “reduce” their second and third conditional sentences to two-cause sentences with “so” or “because.” This back and forth manipulation of the grammatical relationships helps to reinforce their understanding of the complexities involved.

If the sun had been shining we would have gone on our picnic › But the sun wasn’t shining, so we didn’t go on our picnic.

Also, another follow-up exercise to second and third conditionals is mixed conditionals (second and third) where a past event or situation has a present effect or result:

If it hadn’t rained so much, we wouldn’t have all this water in our basement here. (But it rained a lot, so now we have all this water in our basement.)

I have found that learning conditionals (especially second and third) and using them requires students to apply a bit more intellectual analysis to their language learning than they normally may for other aspects of their learning. Therefore, I recommend that teachers and students make discussion the vehicle for learning these grammatical structures, and that teachers provide plenty of opportunities for reinforcement. This is one grammatical structure that learners will learn over time; teachers should not expect their students to learn second and third conditionals on the first exposure to them.

Here are links to websites that offer exercises and further information regarding second and third conditionals:  Learn 4 Good, English Club, Using English, Espace Ecole, Grammar E-book, British Council.