Conditional and IF clauses Learn English Grammar

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Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha.

Today, I’m going to talk about “if” clauses.

So, “if” clauses are used in a variety
of different sentence patterns.

We use them to do a variety of different things
as well.

So, today, I’m going to give kind of an introduction
into a few cases where you can use “if”

clauses.

So, let’s get started.

Okay.

First, I want to introduce two basic patterns
for using “if” clauses.

“If” clauses can come at the beginning
of a sentence and can be followed by a main

clause.

I’ll explain this a little more later.

So, we can begin with an “if” statement
and end with the main statement or the opposite

is also possible.

First, a main clause followed by the “if”
clause, both are okay.

A few things I want to talk about today are
how to use some of these sentences.

We can use “if” clause sentences, these
kinds of patterns, for making plans and planning

questions.

By this I mean, questions about plans.

All of these include a specific condition
introduced by the “if” statement.

I’ll explain a little more in just a moment.

We can use these for making plans, talking
about plans, asking questions about plans.

We can use these for talking about our future
activities, so potential activities in the

future.

We can use it for talking about past potential,
so things different in the past, an action

done differently in the past and the potential
different outcome in the future.

This is a very complex grammar point but this
is very, very useful.

Okay, finally, we can use them to talk about
advice and to give recommendations as well.

To ask for and give recommendations actually.

This is a very, very useful kind of sentence
and I want to share a couple ways that you

can use these, as well as a couple grammar
points inside the sentences, especially, in

the main clause that I hope you can use to
make these kinds of statements and to make

these kinds of questions.

Let’s take a look.

Okay, first, I want to look at “if” clauses.

So, “if” clauses, they begin with this
“if” statement.

We use an “if” clause to express a condition.

A condition meaning some possibility or some
potential.

For example, “If it’s sunny tomorrow,”
“If the weather is sunny tomorrow, blah,

blah, blah.”

So, we use “if’ at the beginning of the
“if” clause to introduce our condition

that’s going to lead us into the main clause.

So, in our main clause, the main clause can
express a result, a potential result, it can

express a recommendation, it can express a
question.

There are a lot of different things we can
do with the main clause and a lot of different

types of grammar we can use.

So, I want to look at a few examples here.

Let’s look at this first sentence which I
already talked about.

This one, “If it’s sunny tomorrow,” for
example, “I’ll go to the beach.”

Here I have my “if” expression, my “if”
clause, the condition is the weather, “If

it’s sunny tomorrow,” I have here, “I’ll
go to the beach.”

You’ll note that I’ve used “I’ll”, “I
will” because, in this case, it sounds like

the speaker has just made the decision.

Maybe you’ve seen the video we did about the
difference between “will” and “going

to.”

So, when we use “will,” it’s often used
in times when we’ve just made a decision,

during the conversation.

So, here, “If it’s sunny tomorrow, I’ll
go to the beach.”

Please be careful, however, do not use “will”
in this sentence, in this part of the sentence.

For example, some people say, “If it will
be sunny tomorrow,” it’s not correct.

We cannot use “will” here.

We need to use “will” in the main clause.

“If it’s sunny, I’ll go to the beach.”

Please be cautious here.

So, this sentence means, “If the weather
is nice tomorrow, my plan, I just decided,

is to go to the beach.”

Let’s look at one more sentence that is similar.

“If you pass the test,” here is my condition,
“If you pass the test,” here, “you’ll

get a certification.”

“You’ll get.”

So, once more, you can see, I’ve used “will”
here in the contracted form.

“You will get a certification if you pass
the test.”

So, keep in mind, as I said before, we can
swap, we can reverse the sentence patterns

and the sentence meaning remains the same.

Just please be careful, if you’re using “will,”
make sure it’s in your main clause, not in

your “if” clause.

Let’s take a look at something a little bit
different.

Here I have, “If we got approval for the
project,” “If we got,” here you’ll see,

it’s not the present tense.

“If we got approval for the project,”
this is the past participle form here.

“If we got approval for the project, we
would begin on Monday.”

So, this is a potential situation.

This is a situation, you can see I’ve used
the past participle here and “would” in

the main clause, by changing the tense of
my verb, I change the potential of the situation.

This is a sentence we might use when making
a proposal.

“If we got approval for the project,”
in the future, in theory, so meaning in possibility,

this is not certain, it’s not in my control
now.

But, if this were the case, “If I got the
approval for the project, I would–we would

begin on Monday.”

This is a future potential situation, something
that is potentially–I’m potentially capable

or we are potentially able to do but it has
not been decided yet.

In these cases, we need to use “would”
in the main clause.

Okay, so, let’s take a look at the next sentence
here.

Similar to the previous sentence I talked
about.

The sentence–the “if” clause here is,
“If I hired you for the job,” you can

see the verb here is also different as we
talked about in the previous sentence.

“If I hired you for the job, you would get
$50,000 a year.”

So, once more, this is a future potential
sentence and we know that because of the verbs

that are chosen.

“If I hired you,” we use the past participle
here.

We need to apply “would” in the main clause
to show the future potential of this situation.

So, please be careful.

We’ve talked about two types of “if” clause
statements now.

Let’s go to one more, yet one more example
of how to use this grammar.

This is a past potential and a resulting possible
outcome from a past situation.

So, let’s look at the “if” clause first.

“If they had left the house earlier, they
would have been on time.”

Here, once more, you can see, I’ve got, “If
they had left the house earlier,” “If

they had left,” I’ve got “had” here.

So, we need to use have or had in the past
tense here plus the verb.

And then, again, we use “this would have
been on time.”

We have created a more complex grammar sentence.

This shows, “if something had been different
in the past, a different outcome would have

resulted.”

We need to use “would” plus our “have
been,” for example, in this case.

Let’s take a look at one more sentence.

“If I had studied a little more,” here’s
our verb phrase.

“If I had studied,” so, I did not study
very much.

“If I had studied a little more, I would
have passed the test.”

Here, I’ve mentioned too, “might” is also
possible.

Maybe the speaker doesn’t know for sure the
definite outcome, in this case.

So, we can use “would,” to express certainty,
“might,” to express a lower level of certainty.

“I might have passed the test,” “I would
have passed the test.”

And, again, we have the verb “have,” and
in this case, “passed the test,” as well.

So, you can see the grammar becomes progressively
more complex in these situations.

The last ones I want to talk about, just two
more, are recommendations and questions.

You can use an “if” clause to introduce
your condition.

Like, “If you go to Paris,” for example.

Here, in your main clause, you can give a
recommendation.

Like, “you should,” in this case.

I’ve used “should,” “you should visit
the Louvre,” or, “go to the Louvre,”

or, “try some food,” something like that.

You can use a recommendation expression in
your main clause here.

The final thing I want to talk about is making
a question in your main clause.

For example, “If it rains this weekend,
what do you want to do?”

So, this is a situation where you’re looking
for the listeners’ opinion.

“What do you want to do?”

You can use an expression like a question,
“What do you want to do?”

“What do you think we should do?” in your
main clause to do that.

Okay, so, those are a few different ways that
you can use “if” clauses to create a variety

of different expressions in different statements.

So, we’ve talked about, quickly, about a few
examples of each of these so give them a try.

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Thanks very much for watching this episode
and I will see you again soon. Bye.