Tenses And Conditional If

Tenses

The concept of time can be split into:

The Present - What you are currently doing.  

I eat, I am eating                                 

The Past - What you did some time back. 

I ate, I was eating

The Future - What you will do later. 

I will eat, I will be eating                                            

In the English language, tenses play an important role in sentence formation.

The tense of a verb shows the time of an event or action.

 There are four types of tenses. Simple, Perfect, Continuous and Present Perfect Continuous and each of these has a present, past and future form.

 PRESENT TENSES

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

In Simple Present, the action is simply mentioned and there is nothing being said about its completeness.

I eat.

I sleep.

I play.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

In Present Continuous, the action is on-going/ still going on and hence continuous.

I am eating.

I am sleeping.

I am playing.

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

In Present Perfect, the action is complete or has ended and hence termed Perfect.

I have eaten.

I have slept.

I have played.

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

In Present Perfect Continuous, the action has been taking place for some time and is still ongoing.

I have been eating.

I have been sleeping.

I have been playing.

PAST TENSES

SIMPLE PAST TENSE

In Simple Past, the action is simply mentioned and understood to have taken place in the past.

I ate.

I slept.

I played.

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

In Past Continuous, the action was ongoing till a certain time in the past.

I was eating.

I was sleeping.

I was playing.

PAST PERFECT TENSE

Past Perfect is used to express something that happened before another action in the past.

I had eaten.

I had slept.

I had played.

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

Past Perfect Continuous is used to express something that started in the past and continued until another time in the past.

I had been eating.

I had been sleeping.

I had been playing.

FUTURE TENSES

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

Simple Future is used when we plan or make a decision to do something. Nothing is said about the time in the future.

I will eat.

I will sleep.

I will play.

FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE

The future continuous tense is used to express action at a particular moment in the future. However, the action will not have finished at the moment.

I will be eating at 9 a.m.

I will be sleeping when you arrive.

I will be playing at 5 p.m.

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

Future Perfect expresses action that will occur in the future before another action in the future.

I will have eaten before 10 a.m.

I will have slept before you arrive.

I will have played before 6 p.m.

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

Future Perfect Continuous is used to talk about an on-going action before some point in the future.

I will have been sleeping for two hours when you arrive.

I will have been playing for an hour when it is 5 p.m.

Conditional Clause and Main Clause

1. First conditional:     If I have enough money, I will go to Japan.

2. Second conditional:            If I had enough money, I would go to Japan.

3. Third conditional:   If I had had enough money, I would have gone to Japan.

Conditional clause      Main clause

1. If + Present Tense   will + inf / present tense / imperative

 If you help me with the dishes (if + pres),

I will help you with your homework. (will + inf)

If the sum of the digits of a number is divisible by three,

the number is divisible by three (Pres. tense)

If you see Mr Fox tonight, tell him I am ill. (imperative).

2. If + Past Tense        would + inf

3. If + Past Perfect Tense       would have + past participle

We do not normally use will or would in the conditional clause,

only in the main clause.

Uses of the Conditional

First conditional

Nature: Open condition, what is said in the condition is possible.

Time: This condition refers either to present or to future time.

e.g. If he is late, we will have to go without him.

If my mother knows about this, we are in serious trouble.

Second conditional

Nature: unreal (impossible) or improbable situations.

Time: present; the TENSE is past, but we are talking about the present, now.

e.g. If I knew her name, I would tell you.

If I were you, I would tell my father.

Compare: If I become president, I will change the social security system. (Said by a presidential candidate)

If I became president, I would change the social security system. (Said by a schoolboy: improbable)

If we win this match, we are qualified for the semifinals.

If I won a million pounds, I would stop teaching. (improbable)

Third conditional

Nature: unreal

Time: Past (so we are talking about a situation that was not so in the past.)

e.g. If you had warned me, I would not have told your father about that party.(But you didn't, and I have).