Conditional Sentences / If-Clauses Type I, II und III

Conditional Sentences / If-Clauses Type I, II und III :

Conditional Sentences are also known as Conditional Clauses or If Clauses. They are used to express that the action in the main clause (without if) can only take place if a certain condition (in the clause with if) is fulfilled. There are three types of Conditional Sentences.

Conditional Sentence Type 1 :

→ It is possible and also very likely that the condition will be fulfilled.

Form:  if + Simple Present, will-Future

Example: If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation.

Conditional Sentence Type 2 :

→ It is possible but very unlikely, that the condition will be fulfilled.

Form:  if + Simple Past, Conditional I (= would + Infinitive)

Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.

Conditional Sentence Type 3 :

→ It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled because it refers to the past.

Form: if + Past Perfect, Conditional II (= would + have + Past Participle)

Example: If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation.