The 3^rd Conditional

Conditionals are sentences made up of two clauses – an ‘if’ clause and a main clause – that are closely related. We use these structures to describe what will happen if we do a certain thing, or a certain event occurs. In other words, if a certain condition is true, a certain result will follow.

The ‘if’ clause tells you the condition and the main clause tells you what will happen as a result.

When do we use the 3^rd Conditional?

We use the 3^rd conditional to talk about something in the past that did not happen. (Note that the 1^st and 2^nd conditionals refer to future events, but the 3^rd conditional refers to a PAST event.)

The 3^rd conditional indicates regret – you use this structure when explaining that you wish you had acted differently in the past. For example:

If I had known it was going to rain, I would have worn a raincoat. (You regret not taking a raincoat when you went out.)

I would have remembered to send John a birthday card, if you had reminded me. (You regret not remembering to send John a birthday card.)

Note the structure: if + past perfect, would + have + past participle.