In today's lesson, I'm going to teach you about mixed conditionals. This is an advanced grammar
topic. So before we look at mixed conditionals, I want to review the four main conditionals.
If you understand the four main conditionals, mixed conditionals are a piece of cake.
I know the conditionals can be challenging and they take a long time to learn. So I created a
PDF info pack to help you learn this grammar. I've put together 61 pages with explanations,
examples, and exercises with answers. There are over 200 example sentences and I dedicate 10
pages to mixed conditionals. The examples in this PDF are different from today's lesson,
so you don't need to worry about repetition. This is available on my store and I'll leave
the link down below for you if you need it. My name's Arnel, let's start. Review. When you think
about the four conditionals you might be trying to think of four different things. But actually
the concept of the conditionals is the same. Let's visualize this concept as an umbrella.
Okay, you can see if, plus condition, plus result. By condition I mean, situation. The situation and
its result. So in the zero conditional we have if, plus condition, plus result.
In the first conditional we have if, plus condition, plus result.
Second conditional if, plus condition, plus result. Third conditional if, plus condition, plus result.
In this lesson you are going to be sick of me saying condition, plus result. So sorry about that!
You can see in essence the conditionals are the same. So why do we have four? What's the difference?
Well let's think about humans for a second. Human umbrella.
We all think about the past the present and the future because that's life right? And
we all think about things that are real and unreal. By real I mean, reality, possibilities.
By unreal I mean hypothetical things, impossibilities. Maybe dreams or fantasies.
So you can see this is too much information for one grammatical structure. So we have four.
Take a moment to look at this little chart. Here you might want to pause the video if
you need more time. You can see the zero and first conditionals are about real things.
The second and third conditionals are about unreal things.
Think about it like this, the zero and first conditionals are the brain, very logical. The
second and third conditionals are the emotions, not always logical. Zero conditional. If you light
a candle, well what's the result? It melts. The result is always the same. Same in the past,
same in the present, same in the future. That's the zero conditional. If you put your hand in
front of the sensor, what's the result? The water turns on. This is always the same. Same yesterday,
same today, same in the future. Structure: If plus present simple, plus present simple.
And yes, you can switch the clauses around,
and they're exactly the same. One isn't better or more formal than the other.
Mini tip: If your if clause comes first, add a comma.
If your main clause comes first, the comma isn't necessary. Remember that when you're writing.
First conditional. If I have a coffee after dinner, I will be up all night.
And up means awake, I will be awake all night. This is a real future possibility. Arnel, can I make you
a coffee? Oh, if I have a coffee after dinner I'll be up all night. If you don't study, you won't pass
your exam. Next week you have an exam. This is real. And if you don't study you won't pass your exam.
Structure: If plus present simple, will plus bear infinitive, the base form of the verb.
And yes, we can use other modal verbs to express the future like: Could or, be going to. But again,
I'm just reviewing the conditionals because I really want to get to the mixed conditionals.
If you want more information on the conditionals I do have a full lesson on my channel, and I'll
leave the link down below for you. Again, you can switch the clauses around. Perfectly fine.
Second conditional: If I had one million dollars
I would build a library in my house. Yeah I would do that. This is unreal because do I have
a million dollars? No. I'm kind of dreaming. If, if I had a million dollars, I would build a library.
If my sister lived close to me I would visit her every day. Again, this is unreal. My sister doesn't
live close to me, so I can't visit her every day. If plus past simple, would plus the bare infinitive.
And yes, even though we're using the past simple, we are speaking about the present or the future.
I know that might seem a little bit strange, but it's really important to remember this
for when we get to the mixed conditionals. And last but not least, the third conditional.
If I hadn't become an English teacher, I would have become a nutritionist.
A nutritionist is someone who can help you eat better, they can help you with your nutrition.
This is unreal because I did become an English teacher, so I didn't become a nutritionist.
If you had booked your tickets online you would have saved 20 percent.
The third conditional is really good for criticizing someone. If you had booked your
tickets online you would have saved 20 percent. But you didn't, so you didn't save 20 percent.
Structure. The structure of the third conditional is pretty long.
If plus had, plus past participle. Would have, plus past participle.
Okay. Before we move on to the mixed conditionals I want to do a little test.
I'm going to show you four different clips from four different TED talks. For each clip I want
you to listen and guess if it's the zero, first, second, or third conditional. Let's give it a try.
Clip number one: I'd be rich if I had a dollar for every person who told me that they really
wish they'd been a paleontologist when they grew up. Which conditional is this?
This is a second conditional. And a paleontologist is a scientist who studies fossils.
Not only is this the second conditional, but this phrase if I had a dollar for every hmm
I would be rich, is really common. It's a second conditional, but it's also an idiom.
We use this idiom to mean something happens a lot. Here's my own personal example: If I
had a dollar for every time someone asked me where I was from, I'd be rich.
I get this question a lot, but I know many of you are curious. I'm American but I'm also Chinese/
Korean. Clip number two: If we don't have one or two superpowers, we don't have a single Global Order.
Clip number three. Before we watch number three, in this Ted Talk, RPU means Regional Public University.
But let's imagine if Michael Bloomberg has spread that donation across the 430 RPU's in the country,
each would have received four million dollars. Which conditional is this?
The third conditional. And last one. We know this one is going to be the first conditional,
but let's listen anyway: If we get this right AI, will unlock a world of possibility for all of us.
How did you do? To practice you can think of your own examples for each conditional. You can even
leave the examples in the comments below. Okay, it's time to move on to the mixed conditionals.
Mixed conditional, type one. Okay. We know the third conditional is about the past.
Last week I was on a flight and the food wasn't free. If I had known that I would
have brought my own lunch. But I didn't know that, so I spent 15 dollars on a stupid sandwich.
We know the second conditional is about the present or the future.
There's a big conference tomorrow. I'm really happy I don't need to give a presentation.
If I had to give a presentation I would probably faint on stage.
But what happens if I want to speak about a past situation
and its present result? I need to mix them, right? I need to take the third conditional if clause, and
the second conditional result clause. This is an example lots of students give me: If I had studied
English as a kid my English would be better now. You can see past condition and its present result.
If it hadn't rained yesterday we could play outside.
Again, I'm using a different modal verb, could. That's also possible.
You wouldn't have so much work to do now if you had finished your work yesterday.
So you can see, even though you switched the clauses around, the meaning is the same.
If Bobby had asked you to the dance, would you go? In this one here, past condition with its future
result. Maybe the dance is next week. If he had asked you, would you go?
You can see the type 1 mixed conditional is really logical, because things in
the past affect the present or the future, right? It's a very natural...
Let's look at another clip. If you mess up if I just left the talk like that I was like... I hope
you're all proud of yourselves, bye. Um it would be messed up. Messed up is an adjective, it's an
informal adjective to say wrong or bad. It would be messed up if I had done that. I want you to
think about your own example. If I had or hadn't hmm, I would or wouldn't hmm. Here's my example: If
I hadn't started a YouTube channel, I wouldn't know how to edit videos. What's your example?
Mixed conditional type 2. This one isn't as logical as the first one.
Now. Now Addie is pregnant. Last month there was a rock climbing event. Addie loves rock climbing.
If Addie weren't pregnant she would have gone rock climbing.
Now we have a present hypothetical situation, with its past hypothetical result.
Now I'm using the second conditional if clause, and the third conditional result clause.
Mini note: Addy weren't? If Addie weren't? She. She wasn't, right?
In the second conditional we can use were for all subjects. That's actually seen as more correct.
But many times people do say, was or wasn't. But for your English tests, just use were
or weren't. How is it possible for the present to have an impact on the past? The past is finished.
Well don't forget this is hypothetical. So it can work. In this situation I can't just use the second
conditional. If Addie weren't pregnant she would go rock climbing. That means this rock climbing event
is either in the present, or the future. That's not what I mean. I can't just use the third conditional.
If Addie hadn't been pregnant, she would have gone rock climbing. Why would I say
if she hadn't been pregnant? She's pregnant now. So you can see, I need to mix those conditionals.
Present. I don't have a dog. Yesterday someone broke into my house. Break into is a great phrasal verb,
it means someone forcefully enters your house or car because they want to steal something.
If I had a dog, someone wouldn't have broken into my house. I want to show you another clip.
This is an interview between Jennifer Aniston and Oprah. I think a lot of you
know Jennifer Aniston, she's an actress from the TV show Friends. And I know
a lot of you watch Friends to practice your English. And Oprah is a famous talk
show host. In this clip, Jennifer Aniston is talking about her divorce in 2005,
and she's talking about all the books she received from people who were trying to help her.
and all the self-help books because if I had a dollar for every book
that was sent my way, I could have probably paid for the studio.
Here we have that type 2 mixed conditional, and that idiom I told you about earlier.
If I had a dollar for every book that was sent my way, I could have paid for the studio.
Is it possible to mix the other conditionals, or can we only mix the second and third conditionals?
The two conditionals I've just showed you are what I consider to be the
official mixed conditionals. Those are the ones you see in grammar books and
on your tests. But yes, sometimes native speakers do mix the other conditionals.
Before we get to that it's really important to note that not all if clauses are conditionals.
Yesterday I saw the perfect desk for my office but I didn't buy it.
If you liked it, why didn't you buy it? If plus past simple, plus past simple? Is this conditional number
ten? Here I'm just talking about the past. The if plus past simple here, is not the same as the
if plus past simple in the second conditional. Second conditional, remember, present or future.
That desk is a really good price and it'll fit in my office.
If I liked it, I would buy it. Can you get the the difference in feeling? One
is hypothetical, second conditional, and the other sentence is just talking about the past.
I'm going to paint my kitchen. I already bought the paint and the supplies.
First conditional. If you want to paint your kitchen you will need a lot more paint.
If I were you, I would buy at least five more cans of paint.
If I were you. That's a really common way to give advice in the second conditional. And
it is unreal because I am not you. But if I were you, I would do this.
Let's mix those. If you want to paint your kitchen, I would buy at least five more cans of paint.
You can see I'm mixing a real future possibility, and its hypothetical result. Again, I am not you. So
you might see or hear mixed conditionals like this. But in my opinion, I would really stick to the two
official mixed conditionals. You don't want to start mixing all the conditions together to create
complex sentences. I want to end this lesson with one more idiom. An idiom that's also a conditional.
If it weren't for hmm, I would hmm. This means, without this.
If it weren't for you, I would be unhappy. Without you, I would be unhappy.
If it weren't for the supportive community, I would not have overcome the challenges
of starting my own business. Without the supportive community.
How's the blood pressure Max? I want you girls to know if it were not for this man,
I'd be standing here dead. Can we get the bags? Right away doc, right away. Can you think of an example?
If it weren't for ... I would ... Let me know. And throughout this lesson I've been asking you
to think of your own examples. The best way to learn about conditionals is by thinking about
the conditionals. So really try to think of your own example sentences. And if you
would like my info pack on the conditionals to help you practice, don't forget to check
out the link. I hope this lesson helped you, I'll see you next time. Thank you, bye!!!