CONDITIONALS

Estoy suscrito a Vaughan Lesson y recibo cada quince días un correo electrónico con pequeñas lecciones de inglés. Me han explicado las condicionales varias veces a lo largo de mi vida, y ha sido con la última lección cuando se me han quedado grabadas a fuego para siempre. No hay nada como contar una historia para que los conceptos se te queden grabados, y siempre que vayas a usar condicionales en inglés te acuerdes de la historia del mendigo:

Esto está extraído de la lección última que recibí, puedes verla íntegramente aquí.

The Three Conditionals and the Beggar

1. Let’s say that I’m a person who likes to give money to beggars (mendigos). Let’s say that after work one day, I leave my last class and start walking towards my car (en EE..UU. solemos decir “toward”, sin “s”). As I am walking, I notice a beggar sitting on the pavement (acera - en EE.UU. decimos “sidewalk”) and I think to myself:

If I have a coin, I’ll give it to the beggar. (Si tengo una moneda, se la daré al mendigo.) This is the future conditional. Some books call it the “first” conditional. It’s a condition of the future because I don’t know yet if I have a coin or not. If + present tense, future tense (...I have) (I will give)

2. As I continue walking towards the beggar, checking my pockets, I realize that I don’t have a coin. When I finally reach him, I look at him and say:

If I had a coin, I would give it to you. (Si tuviera una moneda, se la daría a usted.) This is the present conditional. Some books call it the “second” conditional. It’s a condition of the present because it is happening right now. If I had a coin right now, I would give it to the beggar right now. If + past tense, conditional tense (...I had) (I would give) Nota: Tratándose del verbo “to be”, siempre se usa “were” después de “if”, no “was” (If I were rich...)

3. Thirty minutes later, at home, I tell my wife: You know, half an hour ago I saw a beggar and I didn’t have any coins.

If I had had a coin, I would have given it to him. (Si hubiera tenido una moneda, se la habría dado) This is the past conditional. Some books call it the “third” conditional. If + past perfect tense, past conditional tense (...I had had) (I would have given)