How to Use the Third Conditional English Grammar for Beginners

hi everybody my name is Alicia welcome

back to our weekly live stream this is

our last livestream for 2018 thanks very

much for joining us today we’re going to

look at a challenging grammar point

today many of you have asked about this

so we’re finally going to talk about it

live the third conditional the third

conditional grammar point in English

we’re going to use lots of example

sentences so I hope you participate in

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going to start in about two minutes

today’s topic is the third conditional

the third conditional so this is a tough

grammar point but we use it a lot to

like talk about possibilities in the

past and the future hi again everybody

good morning good evening good afternoon

wherever you are in the world a couple

of points I guess while we wait for

others to join one quick thing I saw

earlier today

I tweeted about this earlier as well -

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um we’re about three minutes in so I’m

going to start soon I’m going to share

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okay so I think a lot of people are here

now we’re about three minutes in so as I

said today we’re talking about the third

conditional the third conditional so

let’s get started a ROM on YouTube first

time live cool excellent I want to begin

today’s topic so today’s topic is the

third conditional as always I have kind

of made this lesson into three sections

we’re going to talk about the two parts

of a basic conditional sentence which

are the if Clause the main clause those

two points and then I’m going to end by

introducing some common example

sentences and I’m going to talk about

some pronunciation points relating to

this grammar so let’s get started we

have lots to do today

let’s begin over here over here this is

a really important part I think for this

lesson to understand why we use this

grammar so the third conditional is used

a lot to talk about

like past possibility or even like

present possibility but we use it as

well to talk about regret so regret

means something were sad about in the

past something we were unhappy with in

the past so let’s take a look at this

part so this is the first part one port

part of a conditional sentence is the if

clause so there are two kind of basic

ways I want to look at how do we make

the if Clause part we use for example we

begin it with an if if plus your subject

plus we can use here had or hadn’t

followed by the past participle form of

a verb so I’ll explain this part had and

had it so this positive had here when we

use a positive when we’re making a

positive statement this refers to an

action that did not happen in the past

this did not happen in the past so if

you imagine this on a timeline where

this point is now the present in the

past I’ve marked this in blue with an X

so this is a positive statement yes but

this did not happen this is an unreal

situation did not happen if however you

use a negative here if you use hadn’t if

subject hadn’t plus past participle verb

this refers to something that happened

this is true this is something that

actually happened in the past so on this

timeline I’ve marked this with a red

checkmark to mean yes so this thing

actually happened here so positive did

not happen

negative did happen this actually

happened so please keep this in mind

this might seem like opposite to what to

what you think but this is an important

point for this for this lesson so as I

said we use this a lot to express regret

because we want to change something

about the past so let’s look at a couple

of example if clauses to kind of

illustrate this point I’m gonna move

down to this part now

so let’s go to the first example here

the first example part is this if I had

known if I had known for example if I

had known you were here I would have

brought you a coffee would be a long

full third conditional statement so this

part if I had known right here we’re

going to zoom in in just a second if I

had known uses this positive had which I

mentioned here so this positive had this

means this did not happen this is an

unreal situation so I did not know in

other words but if I had known so known

is the past participle form of the verb

know if I had known if I had known so if

I had known that means I did not know

something in the past but I want to talk

about the possibility if that had been

different okay let’s look at the next

example if you had told me if you had

told me here again I’m using a positive

had my past participle form is told so

tell the past participle form of tell is

told if you had told me I could have

helped you if you had told me I would

have come for example one more if we had

heard so I’m using a lot of this

positive form if we had heard so here’s

past participle form is heard if we had

heard if she had called so I have all of

these in the positive form so these are

all situations these are all things that

did not happen in the past they’re

unreal not true unreal but let’s compare

this to one really common negative

expression which is if I hadn’t if I had

it so this is the reduced form the

contracted form if I had not

if I had not made a mistake so made here

ma de maid is the past participle form

of make to make a mistake but we need to

change it if I hadn’t made a mistake

something would have happened so I’m

using the negative form had not

according to this diagram then this

means this is something that happened

this happened so that means I made a

mistake in the past but I want to say if

I had not made that mistake so if this

had not happened and then something else

so this is how we make an if clause with

this grammar so had or hadn’t plus the

past participle form of your bird this

is the first part and maybe the most

difficult part for many people to making

this grammar so send me

oh there’s one example sentence on

YouTube hi Rama if I had if you had told

me about that new movie I would have

come with you to watch it to watch it at

the cinema nice one nice is clause there

if you had told me no on Facebook if you

had had told me had so had is passed

like we’re using this pad or hadn’t had

hadn’t not to have in present had or

haven’t so this is for the if clause if

Clause is one part of today’s grammar so

this is the first part of today’s

grammar point if clause if Clause part

ma say hey if I hadn’t done such a thing

so do our past participle form of the

verb do is done if I hadn’t done such a

thing

or very naturally if I hadn’t done that

Rama nice yeah you fixed it if you had

told me about that new movie earlier

nice I would have come with you to watch

it at the cinema great okay yeah please

send lots of example sentences today I

will try to check them all if I can Jr

hey jr. nice

question jr. on the YouTube chat has a

great point actually he says I saw some

people eliminating which means removing

the word if and saying had I known

learning another language was so

important I would have started at an

early age yes this had I known pattern

sounds more formal today we’re looking

at a more conversational way of

expressing this grammar but yes jr. you

are correct it just sounds a bit more

formal okay let’s take a break so I’m

going to take a break from our top

grammar point there and talk about this

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back to today’s grammar if you’re just

joining today is the third conditional

the English third conditional a tough

grammar point we talked about the if

clause at the beginning of today’s

lesson now we’re going to talk about the

main clause the main clause here this is

where we have a lot of flexibility and

this can

really change the sentence so if you

haven’t yet send some messages send your

example sentences in the chat make sure

to like and share the video too so other

learners can find it we appreciate it

many of you are sending examples so I

will try to check gustavo on youtube hi

if you had it turned off the oven the

food would button if you hadn’t turned

off the oven the food would have been

spoiled yeah no regrets there that’s

true nice one nice one if I had a big

car ah that one is a slightly different

conditional if I had a big car maybe I

could have arrived to the airport at

that time okay there’s a lot there’s a

lot of examples if you had informed me

ba on Facebook if you had informed

informed is the past participle forum

there okay I’ll try to check your

example sentences there’s a lot thanks

everybody let’s move on though to the

second part of today’s lesson the second

part of today’s lesson is about the main

clause so I said at the beginning of

this lesson that to make a conditional

statement we need two parts there the if

clause here we are we need two things

the if Clause and the main clause so we

talked about how to make the if clause

at the beginning of today’s lesson over

here now let’s talk about the main

clause so the third conditional can be

difficult sometimes because the if

Clause is unreal and the main Clause is

unreal so we’re talking about situations

that are totally not true but we want to

talk about possibility or we want to

express regret or we want to talk about

ways to change things or ways we wish we

had changed things so let’s take a look

at some things that are very commonly

used in the main clauses of these they

are wood could and might these are very

common main clauses I would have or I

wouldn’t have I could have or I couldn’t

have

and I might have or I might not have so

what is the difference a lot of you

asked like is there a difference between

wood and could yes there is a huge

difference between wood and could so

let’s use an example sentence oh it’s

fine

so let’s use an example sentence like

this I talked about this earlier if I

had known for example let’s use this

part here if I had known so a simple if

clause if I had known something I would

have helped so would expresses an unreal

situation but it’s like saying will so

if this work if this had been true this

was not true I did not know but if I did

if I had known I would have helped you

so it’s like saying your future action

but like an alternate universe kind of

so it’s not a real action but you want

to talk about your actions like how they

would have been different in the past if

I had known I would have helped this is

what we use would for so this is a

positive if I used a negative it means

the opposite then something I had no

plan to do but it’s an unreal situation

savvy couldn’t has a great example in

the YouTube chat your if Clause though

if I had known know been there if I had

known about the channel before I would

have joined other live classes that’s a

perfect main Clause I would have joined

other live classes classes nice one nice

one yes I can’t read your name on

YouTube I’m going to go to good next so

would not uses the negative form but

we’re using it to express like lack of a

plan for something if I had known I

would not have helped so that means like

will not but for an unreal situation so

not true so yes let’s go to could could

so what’s the difference so we talked

about how would means like unreal

situation and like a plan like in that

unreal situation it’s not true but if it

were this is my plan this is what I

would do or this is what I would not do

that’s my plan or not my plan could

however could refers to possibility so

only possibility this means there’s no

plan actually would is like a plan I

have a plan for something I intend to do

something I’m going to do something

could doesn’t have that feeling of a

plan only possibility only possibility

so if I had known I could have joined

you if I had known I could have joined

you that means there was possibility to

join you like in this situation there

was a possibility to join okay oh we

have a question from Instagram if I had

joined the class before I would have

passed the TOEIC test oh cool thanks for

reading Instagram from Joel does glue

that’s the first time ever that’s super

cool nice whoever said that an Instagram

nice one nice one okay so I could have

joined you this is only for possibility

if I say I would have joined you here it

means my plan like I my plan would be to

join you in that situation so it did not

happen but could only express it as

possibility only possibility is could

passed of can yes but that’s a different

grammar point for today’s lesson junior

nice I could have won if I had been

there nice one

son um other things ah yeah brick kid

done on Facebook hi if I had known about

the English class I could have learned

here yeah I could have learned ah so

here I don’t have the verb here but we

also need to use this past participle so

I would have past participle so your

past participle verb also needs to be

used here I could have learned as well

okay yeah I saw lots of you commenting

about the livestream actually on the

regular English Channel livestream

someone wrote if the English 24/7 live

streaming video hadn’t great hadn’t

turned off yesterday I could have joined

some chats in the live chat yeah maybe

that’ll be back I’m not in control of

that great if I had studied I would have

succeeded make it past hero day on

YouTube I would have passed my exam

great nice example let’s move on to

might then I might have been able to

work with you is my example here I might

have in this case been able to or I

might have joined you it so might if is

a little bit similar to could so could

is very neutral its own it’s like simple

possibility only might is like saying

there’s a chance

it’s like a little higher than neutral I

might have joined you I might have

helped you

it’s like saying maybe kind of could is

like super neutral it’s just possibility

might is like expressing that there’s a

chance a better chance than zero like

20% 30% chance in this unreal situation

is might very polite no no might is just

a neutral a neutral word it’s not formal

or informal really

okay so let’s take a look at one more

and negative here so if I had known I

wouldn’t have left the office if I had

known I wouldn’t have left the office so

here I did not know something but if I

had I would not have left the office so

this means I did I left the office but

if I had known I would not have left the

office so I would have changed my plan

yes great examples that is correct self

I guess we are using the past participle

in both clauses here with the third

conditional mm-hmm - so we’re ending

this this part this main Clause part

with a past participle verb that is

correct

great okay um I don’t see other examples

yet so I’m going to take one more break

and then I’m going to finish today’s

lesson with some examples that I hope

you can use right away and I’m going to

talk about some pronunciation points

that a lot of you have asked about so

let’s do that let’s take a break whew if

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that out we’re going to finish today’s

lesson then by going to this last part

down here so some common examples so I’m

going to talk about some pronunciation

points so if you’re just joining thanks

very much please do send your example

sentences today and make sure to like

and share the video too so others can

find it ok let’s look now at these

common example sentences so I’ve created

a few here it’s a little hard to see

maybe if you make your video big maybe

you can see it a little bit more clearly

I don’t know so it’s kind of small sorry

my handwriting so I had lost this part

let’s look at this first example so here

is my if clause let’s read it first if I

had known you were coming I would have

bought more food so imagine there’s a

houseguest a surprise houseguest if I

had known you were coming I would have

bought more food so let’s break this

down then this if I had known you were

coming this is my if clause if I had

known you were coming so as we talked

about we have our had my subject if I

had known is my past participle verb you

were this is another important point

when you’re using this unreal grammar

you need to use you were not you was so

please be careful a lot of people ask

about using word and was if you were so

if I had known you were coming here’s my

main Clause I would have bought more

food I would have so here I’m using

would have bot is my past participle

form I’m using a comparative here to

more food so more food than I bought

actually so if I had known you were

coming means I did not know you were

coming but if I had

this would have been my plan I would

have bought more food so some

pronunciation points here this part if I

had known we reduce this actually in

speech too if I’d for one if I had

reduces to if I if I known and then this

you work sounds kind of like you were

you were sort of how it sounds so at

native speed I would say if I’d known

you were coming

if I’d known you were coming that’s how

it sounds in native speed over here then

I also make reductions in sound so I

would have this is a really good

pronunciation point actually if I had

known you were coming I would have

becomes Ida if I’d known you were coming

Ida bought more food I’d have bought

more food so this equals would and this

up equals have I would have reduces to

Ida I had a bought more food so if I’d

known you were coming I’d a bought more

food that’s how a native speaker would

say this sentence so this is a great

pronunciation point to practice I think

that I would reduces to ight and I would

have Ida okay all right let’s go to the

next one if we had had more time we

could have done better so this one if we

had had more time here’s my if clause my

if clause if we had had this is correct

yes there are two hats here

why pad is the basic pad we use to

create this grammar and this had is the

past participle form of the verb have so

I like I have time I have no

time that expression I want to make it

in this form if we had had more time

that means we did not have enough time

in other words if we had had more time

we could have done better we could have

done better so here I’m using could to

express simple possibility we could have

done better

so again pronunciation points if we had

had more time this if we had had reduces

again if we’d had so my subject here is

we this reduces to we’d if we’d had if

we’d had more time if we’d had more time

we could have done better

so this could have in the same way as

would have reduces to Ida we reduce

could have - could coulda we could have

done better

so native speed would be if we’d had

more time we could have done better we’d

have more time we could have done better

good alright let’s go to the last one

because time is going quickly so finally

this one if I had studied so here’s my

past participle if I have studied harder

so here I’m using a comparative form

yeah this means if I had studied harder

than I did so I don’t think I studied

very hard in other words if I had

studied harder I probably would have

passed the test this is a useful point

right here if I studied harder I

probably so this is modifying would have

probably so there’s a high chance that

in this unreal situation I would have

passed the test so in native speed if I

had studied harder I probably would have

passed the test

this probably reduces to prolly prolly

is what it sounds like we do not spell

it prolly but

it sounds like that I probably would

have passed the test it probably would

have passed the test okay so these are

just a couple of examples that we can

use I wanted to talk about more but

there’s no time so we’ll finish with

that so that is a quick but hopefully

useful introduction to the third

conditional a challenging grammar point

I think we’re gonna zoom back out -

regular - regular view here to finish

today’s lesson if we up Eric’s mega on

YouTube if we if we had practiced more

if we had practiced more or if we yeah I

would say if we had practiced more we

could have won the championship that

would sound good what about the comma ah

nice question comma has separates my if

clause and my main clause I’ve separated

so in this case if Clause first comma

main clause so if is the if clause is

acting as an introductory clause and so

my personal preference is to put a comma

after introductory clauses if your main

Clause is first main clause then if

clause you can remove it you can omit

that one

okay um other things if I had a party to

go to I would not have I would not have

been here if I had had a party to go to

I would not have been here how’s Jo say

sorry Josue yeah nice one on Facebook

that’s great

hmm let’s see other points okay I see no

other examples so we’ll finish there for

today so I hope that was helpful if you

missed today’s lesson please don’t worry

it was recorded so you can watch it on

Facebook or on youtube so if you have