IF CONDITIONAL
First Conditional (for real possibility)
If I win the lottery, I will buy a car.
We are talking about the future. We are thinking about a particular condition or situation in
the future, and the result of this condition. There is a real possibility that this condition will
happen. For example, it is morning. You are at home. You plan to play tennis this afternoon.
But there are some clouds in the sky. Imagine that it rains. What will you do?
if condition result
Present Simple will + base verb
If it rains, I will stay at home.
Notice that we are thinking about a future condition. It is not raining yet. But the sky is
cloudy and you think that it could rain. We use the Present Simple tense to talk about the
possible future condition. We use will + base verb to talk about the possible future result. The
important thing about the first conditional is that there is a real possibility that the
condition will happen.
Here are some more examples (do you remember the two basic structures: [if condition
result] and [result if condition]?):
if condition result
Present Simple will + base verb
If I see Mary, I will tell her.
If Tara is free tomorrow, he will invite her.
If they do not pass their exam, their teacher will be sad.
If it rains tomorrow, will you stay at home?
First Conditional (for real possibility)
If I win the lottery, I will buy a car.
We are talking about the future. We are thinking about a particular condition or situation in
the future, and the result of this condition. There is a real possibility that this condition will
happen. For example, it is morning. You are at home. You plan to play tennis this afternoon.
But there are some clouds in the sky. Imagine that it rains. What will you do?
if condition result
Present Simple will + base verb
If it rains, I will stay at home.
Notice that we are thinking about a future condition. It is not raining yet. But the sky is
cloudy and you think that it could rain. We use the Present Simple tense to talk about the
possible future condition. We use will + base verb to talk about the possible future result. The
important thing about the first conditional is that there is a real possibility that the
condition will happen.
Here are some more examples (do you remember the two basic structures: [if condition
result] and [result if condition]?):
if condition result
Present Simple will + base verb
If I see Mary, I will tell her.
If Tara is free tomorrow, he will invite her.
If they do not pass their exam, their teacher will be sad.
If it rains tomorrow, will you stay at home?
