What types of conditionals are there?
There are three basic types of conditional (if you want to see the other types, look at the Intermediate and Advanced sections). Which conditional you use depends on how likely it is that the part in the ‘if’ clause will happen. First conditionals deal with things that are very likely to happen. In England it often rains, so it is very possible that it will rain today. So we might say: If it rains today, we will stay at home. However, if you live in a desert country where it almost never rains, you would use a second conditional, which is for unlikely events. If it rained today, we would stay at home. The third conditional is sometimes called the ‘impossible’ conditional, because it talks of events in the past. Things in the past cannot be changed, but we sometimes like to imagine what would have happened if the past had been different. For example If it had rained today, we would have stayed at home.
