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6-minute grub from BBC Learning English.
Hello, welcome to 6-minute grama with me, Rob.
And me, Katherine. Hello.
This program is all about the second conditional.
Yes, the second conditional will see how to form it.
We'll look at why and when we use it.
There'll be a very helpful pronunciation tip.
And there'll be a second conditional quiz at the end of the show.
So, listen carefully. Let's start by looking at why and when we use the second conditional.
The main use of the second conditional is to talk about impossible, unlikely, or imaginary situations.
And here's an example to do with football.
Katherine, are you a football fan?
Erm, I like to watch the big games, the international's the England games in particular.
I do like an England game.
Yes, they haven't won for a long time, but...
No, not since 66, I think.
66 a long time ago, but maybe they'll win one day.
Maybe. But at the moment, it's just a dream, not a strong possibility.
So, Mike's here. Let's have a second conditional sentence about that situation, Mike.
If England won the World Cup, Katherine would be so happy.
If England won the World Cup, Katherine would be so happy.
Katherine, is that true?
It is, actually, I'd be very happy, unlikely, but I'd be happy.
Good. So, this is the second conditional sentence, and it's made of two parts.
The first part starts with the word if, plus a subject and a past simple verb.
And the first part describes an unlikely or imaginary situation, like this.
If England won the World Cup.
Thanks, Mike. And the second part of the sentence has the word would, or the negative wouldn't, with an infinitive verb.
And this describes a possible result of the unlikely or imaginary situation.
Katherine would be so happy.
That's the result of the imaginary situation.
And yes, if England won the World Cup, we'd both be very happy, wouldn't we, Katherine?
We would. Good. Now, we could change the order of the two parts, and the meaning stays the same.
We'd be so happy if England won the World Cup.
Right, thanks, Mike. And let's have some more examples.
If Sonny had more money, he'd get a better phone.
I wouldn't see you very often if I lived in the city.
Maria would have a better job if she spoke more English.
If I were you, I'd take a holiday.
Thanks. Lots of examples there.
And the last one is particularly interesting.
If I were you, I'd take a holiday.
And of course, this isn't a real situation, because I can't be you.
Can I? You can't be anybody, Rob.
Except yourself. I'll do it.
Just you. We'll stick with you.
You'll start with me, yeah, I'm afraid so.
Anyway, we say a second conditional sentence, starting with the words, if I were you, when we want to give someone some advice.
And here, the advice is to go on holiday.
Yeah, good advice. And it's interesting, actually, that a lot of native speakers say, if I were you, and not if I was you.
And if I were you, I'd go somewhere nice and hot with palm trees and sandy beaches.
Hmm. 60-minute club from BBC Learning English.
And we're talking about second conditionals.
And now for a word about pronunciation.
Contractions or short forms are very common in second conditionals.
But they can sometimes be a little bit difficult to hear.
Yes, that's a good point.
In the last example, the two words I and would become I'd.
I'd take a holiday. Yeah, so would is shortened to just a D sound.
Listen out for the short D sound in this next example.
If I knew the answer, I'd tell you.
Yes, the phrase I would tell becomes I'd tell.
One more time, please, Mike.
If I knew the answer, I'd tell you.
Well, wherever you are, I hope you know the answers to the quiz, because it's coming up next.
Yes, it's quiz time. Choose the correct word or phrase to fill each gap.
And here's the first one.
If you... ...some money on the street, what would you do?
Is the missing word A find, B found or C would find?
And the answer is B. If you found 50 pounds on the street, what would you do?
Good. And another one. If you forgot your wife's birthday, what she do?
Is it A does, B will or C would?
And the answer is C. If you forgot your wife's birthday, what would she do?
I wonder what she'd do. And the last one.
I wouldn't eat that if I...
...U. ...Is it A? Am? B will or C be?
And it's B. I wouldn't eat that if I were U.
Well done if you got all those right.
So, we've been talking about the second conditional.
It's made of if plus the past simple tense and wood plus the infinitive.
We use it to talk about imaginary situations and their results.
And there's more about this on our website at BBCLearningEnglish.com.
Join us again soon for more 6-minute grammar.
Bye! Even when we're on a budget, we still deserve nice things.
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They have buttery soft cashmere sweater starting at $50, luxurious Italian leather bags, and so much more.
Plus, Quince only works with factories that you save ethical and responsible manufacturing.
Get the high-end goods you'll love without the high-price tag with Quince.
Go to Quince.com slash style for free shipping and 365-day returns.
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