Second Conditional Sentences + Examples | English Grammar Lesson — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hey there I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!
2. 0:04Today we're going to roll up our sleeves and practise
3. 0:07with the second conditional.
4. 0:09Now this is one of my favourite grammar structures
5. 0:12in English because we use it in different ways
6. 0:15and we can have lots of fun with it as well.
7. 0:18So that you know exactly what will happen in this lesson
8. 0:22let me give you a bit of an overview.
9. 0:24Firstly we're going to talk about the meaning,
10. 0:27when and why you should use the second conditional.
11. 0:31Then we're going to look at what it looks like,
12. 0:34what words, what tenses, what punctuation
13. 0:38are important to help you use the second conditional
14. 0:41accurately.
15. 0:42Then I've got a few important extra tips
16. 0:45to help you use the second conditional correctly.
17. 0:48So make sure you stick around for that part
18. 0:51and of course, there'll be some practice at the end.
19. 0:54I'll be making a series of videos about conditionals
20. 0:57so make sure you subscribe to the channel and turn on
21. 1:00notifications so that you know when each
22. 1:02new lesson is ready for you.
23. 1:04Now this lesson is a little longer than usual because I
24. 1:07really want to give you a clear and complete
25. 1:10understanding of the second conditional.
26. 1:12So go grab a coffee or a cup of tea, settle in.
27. 1:16You won't regret it.
28. 1:26Alright let's get started with this lesson.
29. 1:29When can you use the second conditional?
30. 1:32We use it in a few ways:
31. 1:34to imagine that our lives
32. 1:37or someone else's life is different;
33. 1:40we use it to ask hypothetical questions;
34. 1:43to give advice;
35. 1:45and to give reasons why you can't do something.
36. 1:48So you might have practised a little with the first two
37. 1:52but the third and the fourth are both interesting
38. 1:55and different ways to use the second conditional.
39. 1:58So I'm really excited to get into those.
40. 2:01But let's start with number one.
41. 2:05We use the second conditional to talk about things
42. 2:08in the future that are unlikely
43. 2:11or things that are impossible in the present.
44. 2:14So we use it to imagine and to dream
45. 2:18that the present situation is different than it really is.
46. 2:21Now this could be because it's impossible now
47. 2:24or because it's really unlikely to become real
48. 2:28in the future, not completely impossible but unlikely.
49. 2:32So with the second conditional, we say
50. 2:35if this happened then that would happen.
51. 2:40So for example,
52. 2:41if I had enough money,
53. 2:44I would buy a house.
54. 2:46If the present situation was different
55. 2:49then I would do that.
56. 2:51If I won the lottery,
57. 2:54I'd buy a house.
58. 2:56Now this is an unlikely event in the future right
59. 3:00because it's unlikely I'm gonna win the lottery.
60. 3:03Possible but unlikely.
61. 3:05Before we keep going with the other ways
62. 3:08to use the second conditional,
63. 3:10let's spend a little bit of time focusing on
64. 3:13what it looks like.
65. 3:15Conditional sentences all have an if clause
66. 3:19and a main clause
67. 3:21which is sometimes also called the result clause
68. 3:25because it can only happen
69. 3:28if the if clause occurs. It's a condition, right?
70. 3:34If this happens, then that happens.
71. 3:38Now what exactly makes a conditional sentence
72. 3:42the second conditional?
73. 3:45So the second conditional uses a past simple verb
74. 3:49in the if clause then 'would'
75. 3:52followed by the infinitive verb in the main clause.
76. 3:57If she lived in London, she would have English friends.
77. 4:02The if clause is the condition.
78. 4:06Does she live in London?
79. 4:08No,
80. 4:09we're talking about a hypothetical situation here right
81. 4:13so the result clause suggests
82. 4:16what would be different and would tells us
83. 4:19that we're imagining
84. 4:21the result or you know
85. 4:23she would have English friends. It's not real.
86. 4:27She doesn't have English friends now but
87. 4:30it could happen if she lived in London.
88. 4:34If she lived in London, she would have English friends.
89. 4:38Now you can definitely make one or both clauses
90. 4:43negative in a second conditional sentence.
91. 4:46If I didn't want to go, I would tell you.
92. 4:51If I didn't finish my homework,
93. 4:53I wouldn't tell my teacher.
94. 4:57And of course,
95. 4:58we can ask second conditional questions too.
96. 5:01Hypothetical questions to ask someone to imagine
97. 5:06what they would do in a different situation.
98. 5:08So these situations are not real
99. 5:11but it's kind of fun to ask these types of questions right?
100. 5:14It really helps to keep conversations going sometimes.
101. 5:18What would you do if you quit your job?
102. 5:22If you won a million dollars, would you travel the world?
103. 5:27If you only had one day in Singapore,
104. 5:29what would you do?
105. 5:31See how fun these types of questions can be?
106. 5:34Choose one of them to answer in the comments below
107. 5:38but make sure you write your answer
108. 5:40as a full second conditional sentence
109. 5:42to practise the structure okay?
110. 5:46If I only had one day in Singapore, I would...
111. 5:52Now you can actually use 'could' in the if clause
112. 5:55to ask a similar question so you would be saying
113. 5:59if you were able to or if it were possible to.
114. 6:04If you could travel to any country, where would you go?
115. 6:09Now notice that when you use 'could' in the if clause,
116. 6:12the verb that follows 'could' is in the infinitive form
117. 6:17not in the past simple and that's because it's a modal
118. 6:20verb right? Standard English grammar rule.
119. 6:23After modal verbs, we always have the infinitive.
120. 6:27Now we've been talking about
121. 6:29hypothetical situations so far
122. 6:31but what are these other uses because we can use
123. 6:34the second conditional to give advice
124. 6:37and if you think about it,
125. 6:39when someone asks you for advice,
126. 6:41you usually try to imagine what you would do
127. 6:44in their situation and share that with them.
128. 6:48So for example.
129. 6:50If I were you, I'd talk to my boss before I quit my job.
130. 6:55Or: If I were her, I'd break up with him.
131. 7:00Now if you're wondering why in both of those examples
132. 7:03I was using 'were' with the subject I,
133. 7:07I'm going to talk about that in a few minutes.
134. 7:09But lastly, you can use the second conditional
135. 7:13to give reasons why you can't do something.
136. 7:16You've probably already noticed that English speakers
137. 7:18are usually quite polite to each other.
138. 7:21Instead of just saying 'no' we often try and soften
139. 7:25our responses by explaining why we can't do something
140. 7:29and sometimes you might just want to explain
141. 7:32a situation a little more so the second conditional
142. 7:35can really help you to do this.
143. 7:37So for example. If I had the money, I'd lend it to you.
144. 7:42I don't have to explain myself any further here.
145. 7:44This sentence already explains that I don't have
146. 7:48the money so I can't help.
147. 7:49But it suggests that maybe you want to, that maybe
148. 7:53you would if you could.
149. 7:57If I wasn't so busy, I'd invite you over for dinner.
150. 8:02But I am really busy so I can't invite you over.
151. 8:06So we've covered what the second conditional looks like
152. 8:09and when you can use it
153. 8:12but now I want to share some extra tips to help you
154. 8:15understand it better and to help you use it accurately.
155. 8:19So the first one I want to mention is that 'if' is a
156. 8:23conjunction, right? The purpose of conjunctions is to
157. 8:27join two sentences or two different clauses together.
158. 8:31There's a really strong relationship between the two
159. 8:34clauses in a conditional sentence,
160. 8:36right? They're really connected.
161. 8:38The if clause contains a condition and the main clause
162. 8:42contains the result, right? They rely on each other.
163. 8:45Now you may know that with all conditional sentences,
164. 8:49you can change the order of your clauses.
165. 8:52When this happens, it doesn't change the meaning
166. 8:55but there is an important punctuation change
167. 8:58that you need to make.
168. 9:01If it stopped raining, I would go for a walk.
169. 9:06I would go for a walk if it stopped raining.
170. 9:10Now the meaning in these two sentences
171. 9:12is exactly the same
172. 9:14but notice that when the main clause comes first,
173. 9:17we don't include that comma before the if clause.
174. 9:20Now to be honest
175. 9:22this is really only significant if you're sitting an
176. 9:25English exam or you're doing academic writing.
177. 9:28You're going to get marked down for that type of
178. 9:30punctuation error.
179. 9:32But generally, that's not really something
180. 9:34you need to lose sleep over.
181. 9:35Now in spoken English, the subject and 'would',
182. 9:40they're usually contracted.
183. 9:41I'd, you'd, she'd, he'd,
184. 9:45they'd, we'd.
185. 9:47Now it's much easier to say this
186. 9:51type of sentence quickly
187. 9:52and it helps you to sound a little more relaxed as well.
188. 9:55But these contractions, very common in spoken English,
189. 9:59common in informal written English
190. 10:01but you shouldn't be using contractions in formal
191. 10:05written English, right? Just steer clear completely.
192. 10:09Now one of the most interesting parts about the second
193. 10:13conditional is that it breaks some standard
194. 10:16be verb grammar rules, right?
195. 10:18We can actually use 'were' instead of 'was' with I,
196. 10:24he, she and it, right?
197. 10:27Both of them are grammatically correct but I guess
198. 10:30'were' is a little more formal
199. 10:33alright so we would use it in more formal situations.
200. 10:36If I was you, I would break up with him.
201. 10:39If I were you, I would break up with him.
202. 10:44Both of those sentences are the same.
203. 10:46If she was taller...
204. 10:48If she were taller...
205. 10:50she would be an air hostess.
206. 10:52So again we can use either, it's totally okay.
207. 10:56'were' is a little more formal.
208. 10:58All right, phew, oh my gosh!
209. 11:01So after all of that,
210. 11:03I want you to practise writing some sentences with me
211. 11:06in the comments. Now if you're feeling pretty confident
212. 11:09about this, go ahead and create your own sentences,
213. 11:13freestyle, you know. Get creative.
214. 11:15Give advice. Talk about hypothetical situations.
215. 11:19Give reasons why but if you're feeling still maybe a
216. 11:23little uncertain,
217. 11:24I've added these questions in the description below
218. 11:28so all you need to do is copy them and paste them into
219. 11:31your comment and then complete the answers yourself.
220. 11:34So I'll be down there checking your answers
221. 11:37all weekend to make sure you're getting them right
222. 11:40and if you need some help and support, I'll be there.
223. 11:42If you enjoyed this lesson, make sure you give it a like,
224. 11:45subscribe to my channel so that you know
225. 11:48when the next lesson is going to be ready for you.
226. 11:51As I said, I will be adding more lessons
227. 11:54just like this, with the first, the third, mixed conditionals
228. 11:58as well. They're coming.
229. 12:00So I'm guessing that your grammar brain is a little
230. 12:03fried right now so if you're keen to keep practising
231. 12:06with me, let's try something a little lighter,
232. 12:09maybe some pronunciation perhaps.
233. 12:13Thanks for watching friends.
234. 12:14I will see soon. Bye!