11th CTPPuriscal
Teacher MaJo

English grammar – Second conditional

Form

If + past + would + verb

Meaning

Second conditional is used in situations/actions in the present or future which are not likely to happen or are imaginary, hypothetical or impossible.

• If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world and buy a castle.

I think it is very unlikely that I will win the lottery. However, in this unlikely condition, I will travel and buy a castle.

• If I wasn’t watching TV now, I would be playing football.

I am watching TV, but I am imagining an alternative activity I would be doing if I wasn’t watching TV.

• If I were an alien, I would be able to travel around the universe.

It is impossible for me to be an alien. However, I am imagining what I would do in this situation

Additional points

Other modal verbs can be used in place of would:

• If I had more money, I could buy a car.

Buying a car would be possible.

• If I won the lottery, I might give all the money to charity.

Giving the money to charity is only a possibility.

Explaining Second Conditional 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71u-NoY4Ag8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGhR1EP0OxY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEwcIsTKBU4

Second Conditional

for unreal possibility

If I won the lottery, I would buy a car.

The second conditional is like the first conditional. We are still thinking about the future. We are thinking about a particular condition in the future, and the result of this condition. But there is not a real possibility that this condition will happen. For example, you do not have a lottery ticket. Is it possible to win? No! No lottery ticket, no win! But maybe you will buy a lottery ticket in the future. So you can think about winning in the future, like a dream. It's not very real, but it's still possible.

if	condition	result
	Past Simple	would + base verb
If	I won the lottery,	I would buy a car.

Notice that we are thinking about a future condition. We use the Past Simple tense to talk about the future condition. We use would + base verb to talk about the future result. The important thing about the second conditional is that there is an unreal possibility that the condition will happen.

Look at these example sentences:

if	condition	result
	Past Simple	would + base verb
If	I married Mary,	I would be happy.
If	Ram became rich,	she would marry him.
If	it snowed next July,	would you be surprised?
If	it snowed next July,	what would you do?

result	if	condition
would + base verb		Past Simple
I would be happy	if	I married Mary.
She would marry Ram	if	he became rich.
Would you be surprised	if	it snowed next July?
What would you do	if	it snowed next July?

Sometimes, we use should, could or might instead of would, for example: If I won a million dollars, I could stop working.

Practice

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-conditional-second.htm