Meaning & use
conditional tenses
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Meanings
nounpluraltechnicalspecialist
The verb forms using 'would' that describe imagined, possible, or unreal situations and their results.
Grammar: Plural noun phrase. Use 'the conditional tenses' when talking about the whole set; use 'the conditional tense' for one form.
Patterns
- the conditional tenses
- use the conditional tenses
- learn the conditional tenses
Conditional tenses are used to talk about things that might happen or that we imagine.
In English class, we practiced the conditional tenses with 'if' clauses.
The conditional tenses include 'would go', 'would be going', and 'would have gone'.
nounpluraltechnicalspecialist
The set of verb forms in a language that express what would happen under certain conditions.
Grammar: Often used in language teaching. It can refer to English or to other languages.
Patterns
- the conditional tenses in English
- the conditional tenses of a verb
- form the conditional tenses
French and Spanish also have conditional tenses, but they are formed differently from English.
The teacher explained that conditional tenses often appear in polite requests.
Students sometimes find conditional tenses difficult because they combine two clauses.
Word forms
| singular | conditional tense |
|---|
Common combinations
- the conditional tenses in English
- The conditional tenses in English use 'would' plus a base verb.
- practice the conditional tenses
- We practice the conditional tenses by writing sentences with 'if'.
- use the conditional tenses
- You use the conditional tenses to talk about unreal situations.
- the perfect conditional tense
- The perfect conditional tense is 'would have + past participle'.
Synonyms and how they differ
- conditional forms
- A broader term that includes conditional tenses and other conditional structures such as 'if' clauses.
- conditional mood
- A related term for the grammatical mood, but it refers to the whole category rather than just the tense forms.
Word family
- condition noun
- A situation that must exist for something else to happen.
- conditional adjective
- Depending on something else; also used for the verb form.
- conditionally adverb
- In a way that depends on a condition.
Commonly confused: conditional tenses or conditionals?
conditional tenses vs conditionals
Conditionals are whole sentences with 'if' clauses, while conditional tenses are just the verb forms with 'would'.
Practice
Which sentence correctly uses a conditional tense?
Choose one answer.
'Would visit' is the conditional tense used with the past simple in the if-clause for an unreal present situation. Option A mixes 'had' with 'will'. Option C mixes 'have' with 'would'. Option D uses the present simple after 'had', which does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “conditional tenses”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.