Third Conditional: Overview
The third conditional is used to talk about imaginary situations in the past. It expresses situations that did not happen and their hypothetical consequences. This is the conditional we use when we reflect on something that could have happened differently but didn’t.
Structure (Formula):
- If + Past Perfect, would have + past participle
Affirmative
- If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam.
- If she had arrived on time, she would have caught the train.
- If they had saved more money, they could have traveled abroad this year.
- If he had taken the job offer, he might have moved to another city.
- If we had booked the tickets earlier, we would have gotten a better price.
- If I had known about the event, I would have attended it.
Negative
- If I hadn’t missed the deadline, I wouldn’t have lost the opportunity.
- If he hadn’t forgotten his wallet, he wouldn’t have been stuck at the restaurant.
- If they hadn’t ignored the weather forecast, they wouldn’t have gotten caught in the storm.
- If she hadn’t stayed up late, she wouldn’t have been so tired the next day.
- If we hadn’t left the house so early, we wouldn’t have missed the traffic.
- If I hadn’t skipped breakfast, I wouldn’t have been so hungry by lunchtime.
Function:
The third conditional is used to express regret, missed opportunities, or hypothetical outcomes of situations in the past that did not actually occur. It shows that the outcome was only possible if the past event had happened differently, but it didn’t, so the result didn’t occur either.
- If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam. I didn’t take enough time to prepare, and as a result, I failed. Looking back, I realize that I could have passed if I had made more effort, but it’s too late now.
- If you had studied harder, how would your grades have changed?
- If you had passed the exam, what would have happened next?
- If she had set an alarm, she wouldn’t have missed her flight. Unfortunately, she overslept and arrived at the airport too late. Missing the flight changed her entire day, and she had to rebook and wait hours for the next available plane.
- If she had set an alarm, how would her day have gone differently?
- If you had missed your flight, how would you have felt?
- If we had left earlier, we wouldn’t have been stuck in traffic. We left at rush hour, which was a bad idea. The roads were packed, and we arrived late. If only we had planned better, we could have avoided the stress.
- If you had left earlier, how much time would you have saved?
- If there hadn’t been traffic, how would your arrival time have changed?
