Home » Verb Forms and Tenses » Conditionals » Second Conditional
The Second conditional is used to talk about the unreal present and future.
Present: If I were the President, I’d know lots of important people.
Future: If I were the President, I’d ban smoking.
| If clause, | Result clause |
| If past tense, | Would + Bare infinitive |
| If I were the president, | I’d ban smoking. |
The structure can be reversed. In this case, do not use a comma.
| Result clause | If clause. |
| Would + bare infinitive | If past tense |
| I’d ban smoking | if I were the president. |
When
The Second Conditional talks about unreal situations, we can only use ‘If’. We cannot use ‘When’.
I would have bought that computer when it had been cheaper. Not Correct
I would have bought that computer if it had been cheaper. Correct
Alternatives to would
We can substitute would with the modal verbs: could, might or should.
If I were president, I might ban smoking.
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