Conditionals

The English language has some sentence structures called conditionals. Conditionals imply that certain criteria needs to happen in order for something else to take place. Strictly defined, a “Condition” entails a “situation or happening”. Conditionals work on the premise that If a specific situation is true, then an anticipated result will occur.

• If z= 8 then 3z = 24
• If x = 13 then 2x = 26

There are several conditionals, but we use three basic conditionals much more often than the others. Below we have described the three most basic conditionals and will also describe another one called zero conditional. At the end we will provide a simple quiz to assess your grasp of conditionals.
Some refer to conditionals as “IF” statements. The reason for this is that, most often than not, conditionals will contain the word “ if ” in the sentence.
Although conditionals may sound difficult, in reality they are very easy to understand and formulate. The basic structure for a conditional involves two possible outcomes. In real life we use verbs in different tenses as well as other words to complete the sentence, but at its most basic level it can be summarized as follows:

IF	condition	result
IF	g = 8	3g = 24

or something similar:

result	IF	condition
2x = 40	IF	x = 20

The chart below is an aid in understanding the levels of probability along with the conditionals. The 50% and 10% probabilities are meant as guidance, and not to be taken literally.

Probability	Conditional	Example	Time
100%	Zero Conditional	If it rains, the roads get wet.	any time
50%	First Conditional	If the sun comes out, I will pack a picnic.	future
10%	Second Conditional	If I got promoted, I would buy a new condo.	future
0%	Third Conditional	If I have studied, I would have aced the class.	past