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hey there i'm emma from um english
i've been talking about conditionals a
lot lately and this video is no
exception
but this one is one of the most
interesting of all because we're going
to be talking about mixed conditional
sentences mixed conditionals are exactly
what they sound like a conditional
sentence that mixes
two different times in one sentence
now it sounds a little tricky but i'm
here to go over it with you and to help
you practice with me later on in this
lesson so don't worry if you had learned
how to use mixed conditionals already
you wouldn't need to watch this lesson
check it out that is a mixed conditional
sentence and by the end of this video
you'll be feeling much more confident
about using mixed conditionals as you
speak in english so let's go
[Music]
if you've watched some of my previous
lessons or perhaps you've studied
conditionals at school well you'll know
that the zero conditional is used to
talk about facts and things that are
generally true the first conditional
talks about a likely present situation
the second talks about
hypothetical or highly unlikely present
or future situations
and the third conditional is a past
situation which didn't happen so these
are all useful for talking about
situations that relate to actions in
isolation in their own time so the third
conditional relates to the past but
mixed conditionals help you to move
through time
so a past action
with a present result gets exciting
as i mentioned earlier a key idea when
we use mixed conditionals is time
but don't confuse time with verb tense
so of course we use different verb
tenses to express different times that's
but time and tense are not always the
same thing
so if we take a look at a couple of
sentences
i had a dog when i was a child
she was cleaning all day yesterday
so are these two sentences using the
same verb tense
this is the past simple and this one is
the past continuous
they're not using the same tense
but they are referring to the same time
right
they both take place in the past so they
have the same time reference
and like i said earlier mixed
conditionals are conditional sentences
that use two different times in them
they help us to move between two times
so the if clause and the main clause in
a mixed conditional sentence have
different times that work together
so we take a look at an example
if i had woken up earlier i wouldn't
have missed the bus
so
both these clauses take place in the
past right i'm talking about this
morning
yesterday morning or some other morning
in the past and the result that i missed
the bus
also happened in the past
so i already missed the bus i can't
change that now so
let's change this sentence a little to
make it a mixed conditional
to do that we need one of the clauses to
be in a different time
so our if clause is happening in the
past right so let's make our main clause
about the present
if i had woken up earlier i would be at
work already
i wouldn't have missed the bus so i
would be at work already now
in the present
so now we've got a mixed conditional
sentence one clause refers to a past
action and the other refers to the
present
see
it's not as hard as you think once you
break it down but it takes practice so
let's keep going there are a few
different ways that we can do this you
can
mix and match
several tenses and times together to
make a mixed conditional sentence but i
want to focus on the two most common
combinations right
so a past action and a present result
which is just the example that we just
looked at
and then a present condition
and a past result
so remember
in both of these sentences
we're talking about something that's
unreal in the first we're talking about
changing a past action and
the hypothetical present result that
would happen but it can't happen because
we can't change the past right and in
the second we imagine that the present
were different now it's not but if it
were
then
how would the past hypothetically have
been different as a result
it's a little confusing i know
let's keep going so to create the first
one we need the past perfect in the if
clause
and the present conditional in the main
clause
so if this thing had happened
then
that thing would happen
if i had saved more money i would own
this house
if you hadn't taken that job
we would be traveling together
if they had paid more attention they
wouldn't be failing in class and don't
forget that like all conditionals you
can change the order of the if clause
and the main clause
this thing would happen
if
this thing had happened so you can swap
the order of the clauses but all of the
information is still there i would own
this house
if i had saved more money we still have
a hypothetical past action
in the if clause
and the hypothetical present result in
the main clause
the other common mixed conditional
sentence is a present condition
and a past result so this is an unreal
present condition to imagine
what the result would have been in the
past but we'll never really know because
this is
imaginary right so imagine
if this thing happened
then
this would have happened
now
all right let's talk about this for a
minute because we're talking about a
present condition right but we're using
the past simple tense in the if clause
but that's not a real past right this is
how we use the second conditional to
express a hypothetical
present situation if i were more
outgoing i would have introduced myself
if he wasn't injured
he would have played the game
if i wasn't so busy i would have offered
to help
now you can also use this same general
form to talk about a future action
and a hypothetical past result
now this is pretty advanced but you'll
see how it can be a useful way of
expressing yourself just imagine that
tomorrow you had a really important
meeting at work a meeting that you've
planned and you've organized and set it
up for the future so you can't go out
dancing tonight obviously
because you want to be well rested and
alert for this meeting your boss is
going to be there but if i didn't have
an important meeting tomorrow
i would have gone out dancing
if she wasn't going on holiday next
month she would have asked for a day off
if you weren't going on a big hike
tomorrow
would you have come on a bike ride today
so how are you feeling about mixed
conditionals now i always think that
it's easier if you focus less on the
complicated grammar tenses and more on
the relationships with time and the
three most commonly used mixed
conditional sentences
are simply
a past action with a present result
a present condition with a past result
and a future action and a past result so
now that you know all of this i think
it's time that we practice a little
together so are you ready to put
everything that we've just been through
into practice with a mini quiz
good i knew that you were let's do it
so i'm going to start by giving you a
few if clauses in the past and i want
you to write your own
present results so this is where you've
got to be creative come up with your
answers and add them into the comments
below so for example if i had got on
that plane
this is obviously in the past right so
to make it a mixed conditional we need
to bring the results into the present
in the main clause
so all you have to do is imagine what
you would be doing now this is the
imaginary present right
if you had gotten on that plane
you could say
i would be in fiji right now or
i'd be sipping champagne and watching
movies or i'd be stuck on a 14-hour
long-haul flight
whatever
that's the fun of an imaginary situation
so now it's your turn if i had won the
lottery
if she had picked up the phone
if he hadn't quit his job
so right now i want you to pause the
video and finish these sentences
now i'm going to prompt you with a
present if clause so that means that
your main clause needs to be something
different in the past now just be
careful that you
make sure your main clause is in the
past so you could correctly write a
different time
but then it wouldn't be a mixed
conditional right
if i were more athletic
if she wasn't so tired
if i was fluent in english
so again pause the video and finish
these sentences
awesome work now the last category and
you can probably guess where i'm going
to go with this i'm going to prompt you
with a future if clause
and you can finish the sentence with a
past result in the main clause
if tomorrow wasn't monday
if she didn't have an important exam
next week
if i wasn't moving next month
again pause
take your time to write your sentences
out add them into the comments below so
i can check them
grammar lessons like this one can
sometimes leave you feeling like your
brain has turned to mush but don't let
these types of sentences scare you just
accept that this is going to take some
time to really understand these
sentences how to use them play around
with them a little
keep the time
and the tenses in mind
just keep coming back to this lesson and
all the conditional videos that i've
made for you
just to review and remind yourself about
the difference in how to use them and
look for these structures if you're
reading a book highlight the conditional
sentences that you come across and just
pause think about them for a moment try
to understand how the two clauses relate
to each other if you've got any
questions at all then make sure you ask
me down in the comments share your
sentences down there i always try to
give as much feedback as i can and i
really hope that this lesson was helpful
for you in fact if you've got a friend
or you know someone who would also
benefit from from watching it then make
sure you share it with them be a good
friend subscribe to english if you
haven't already
and i will see you in the next lesson
ready and waiting for you right now
let's do it
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About this lesson
Learn how to use mixed conditionals to talk about different times in one sentence.