What is the Third Conditional Verb Form?
There are a total of 4 types of conditional sentences in English namely zero conditional, first conditional, second conditional, and third conditions. In this article, we will learn about the third conditional verb form. The third conditional verb always refers to the past. We talk about the situations that happened or didn't happen in the past.
Example:
If I had won a million dollars, I would have started my own business.
(But, I didn't win anything).
If she had met her friend, she would have asked him.
(Unfortunately, she didn’t meet her).
If we hadn’t studied, we wouldn’t have scored good grades.
(But we studied and scored good grades).
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How to Form Third Conditional Sentences?
While making third conditional sentences, we use the past perfect after ‘if’ and then “would have” and the “past participle” at the end of the sentence. In other words, we use the past participle in the “if form” and the present infinitive (have + past participle) in the main clause.
Third Conditional Verb Form Structure
To form a sentence using a third conditional verb, we use If + Past Perfect + Would/Wouldn’t have + Past Participle.
Example:
If you had invited me for dinner, I would have come.
If you had invited me for dinner, I wouldn’t have missed it.
Third Conditional Verb Form
In the third conditional sentence, we use past perfect with the “if clause” and the perfect conditional or perfect continuous conditional with the main clause.
When to Use the Third Conditional Verb Form?
The third conditional structure is used to talk about unreal situations in the past. In other words, it is used to talk about things that did not happen in the past. The third conditional verb is often used to express regret or criticism.
How to Use a Third Conditional Verb?
The third conditional sentence is generally used to explain that the present situation would be different if something different had happened in the past. For example:
If you had told me you needed a car, I would have left earlier.
If I had prepared my lunch, I could have gone to watch movies.
The above sentences describe a situation that was likely enough, but did not actually happen in the past. In the above first sentence, the speaker was capable of leaving earlier but did not. Also, the speaker in the second sentence was capable of cooking lunch, but did not. These are all the situations that were likely, but sadly did not happen.
Note: While using the third conditional verb, we use the past perfect tense ( had + past participle) in the if clause. The modal auxiliary verbs such as (would, could, might, etc) + have + past participle in the main clause describes the theoretical situations that could have happened in the past.
Following are the common mistakes that are made while using the third conditional verb.
If you would have told me you needed a car, I would have left earlier.
If you had told me you needed a car, I would have left earlier.
Explanation:
With the third condition verb, do not use the modal auxiliary verb in the if clause.
If I had prepared my lunch, I could go to watch movies.
If I had prepared my lunch, I could have gone to watch movies.
Explanation:
The third conditional sentence expresses a situation that could have happened only in the past if a certain condition had been met. Due to this, we use the modal auxiliary verb + have + the past participle.
How to Combine the Second Conditional and Third Conditional?
It is possible to combine both second conditional and third conditional verbs. There are two ways to combine both the second conditional and the third conditional verb. We can either:
Describe the Present Effects of Past Situations.
If + Past Participle, Would Have + Verb
If I were wrong, I would have apologized.
Describe the Present Effects of a Present Situation.
If + Past Participle, Would + Verb
If we hadn’t missed the flight, we would be in our hotel by now.
Here are some examples:
If I had spent a year in the US, my English would be free-flowing now.
If she weren’t so shy, she’d have to watch the movie on her own.
The cricket fans would be unhappy if their team had been dismissed.
The weather wouldn’t be so cool if it hadn’t rained so much yesterday.
Third Conditional Verbs List of Examples:
Following are the third conditional verbs list of examples
If I had scored good marks on my Master's, I could have done a Ph.D.
If little Harry’s parents had gone on holiday, his parents would have looked after him.
If the property prices had gone down last year, we might have bought a cottage in the countryside.
If it hadn’t rained, we could have gone for an evening walk.
If I had been you, I would have achieved good grades.
If I had known her phone number, I would have called her.
If she had felt more relaxed, she wouldn’t have driven so fast.
If he had driven slowly, he would have observed the “STOP” sign,
If your alarm clock had rung on time, you would have had time to have breakfast at home.
If she hadn’t met Hitesh, they wouldn’t have fallen in love.
FAQs on Third Conditional Verb
1. What does the third conditional verb mean?
The third conditional verb is used to talk about the issues that would have happened if events in the past were different. The third conditional only refers to the past and ideas or actions that are hypothetical or impossible. It is often used to describe the regrets about past actions that the speaker would like to change. Therefore, the if clause describes the past actions which did not happen, and the result clause explains the hypothetical effects of the action.
2. What do conditional sentences mean?
A conditional sentence is a sentence that describes a condition. A condition is something that happens only if something occurs. A conditional sentence includes an independent clause and dependent clause that almost begins with the word ‘If’. A conditional sentence is only termed as a conditional sentence if it has both dependent clauses and independent clauses. For example: If I win a lottery, I can go for a foriegn tour. Here, “If I win a lottery”, is a dependent clause, and “I can go for a foreign tour”,is an independent clause.
3. What are the different types of conditional sentences?
The different types of conditional sentences are:
Zero Conditional Sentences
First Conditional Sentences
Second Conditional Sentences
Third Conditional Sentences
4. What do “If clause” and “main clause” mean?
The “if clause” or dependent clause in the conditional sentence describes the condition that will enable the action in the “main clause” or independent clause to occur.
5. When to use a comma in the third conditional sentence?
When the if-clause comes first, it is followed by a comma whereas we do not use a comma if the order is reversed. For example:
If I had been more confident, I would have played better. (comma is used after if clause)
I would have played better If I had been more confident. (No comma)
6. Can we reverse the order of clauses in the third conditional sentence?
Similar to the other conditional structure, we can also reverse the order of the third conditional sentence with no change in the meaning. For example, If I had been smarter, I would have taken less time to complete the work. This sentence in reverse order can be written as I would have taken less time to complete the work if I had been smarter.
