B2 Grammar: Third Conditional

Third conditional

The third conditional is used to talk about:

·    something which did not happen in the past and

·    its results, which are imaginary.

If I had lived in the 19^th century, I would have gone to school by horse. (If I had lived in the 19^th century (something which did not happen – I am alive now), I would have gone to school by horse (an imaginary consequence because I didn’t live in the 19^th century).

If I hadn’t reacted quickly, the hippo would have killed me (I reacted quickly, so the hippo didn’t kill me).

The third conditional has the following form:

If + past perfect tense, - would have + (done / been / eaten, etc.):

If you had phoned me this morning, I would not have been late for school.

If you had gone to the concert, you would have enjoyed it a lot.

Note: You can contract the third conditional as follows:

If I’d lived in  the 19^th century, I’d have gone to school by horse.

If he hadn’t been in such a hurry, he wouldn’t have had an accident.

You can use could and might instead of would:

·    If our team had played harder, they could have won the match (they had the ability to win the match, but they didn’t, because the didn’t play hard enough).

·    Compare this with: If our team had played harder, they would have won the match (they were sure to win, but they didn’t because they didn’t play hard enough).

·    If the weather had been better, we might have gone swimming (swimming was a possibility).

·    Compare this with: If the weather had been better, we would have gone swimming (swimming was a certainty).