General English B2 · Lesson 5A

Grammar Bank

The rules behind this lesson — form, use, model sentences and the mistakes to avoid.

← Back to the lesson

Grammar focus of this lesson

the second (unreal) conditional

1 structure

Unreal conditionals
Second and third conditionals for imaginary and impossible situations.
I've got this
Rules & form
- ›Second: If + past simple, would + base verb — unreal present/future.
- ›Third: If + past perfect, would have + participle — impossible past.
- ›Mixed: If we'd hired her, we'd be ahead now.
- ›Formal inversion: Had we known, we would have acted.
Examples
- “If I were in your position, I'd renegotiate.”
- “If we had tested it earlier, we wouldn't have lost the client.”
- “If they'd invested then, they'd own the market today.”
Watch out · If I would have known ✗ → If I had known ✓.
Your own example