Do you have any regrets?.. most of us do but do you know how to express them in
English? well, in today's lesson we are going to be looking at just that and
what grammar do we need? 3rd conditional!
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We all have a few regrets, so I want you to try and think of one regret something that happened to
you in the past or something you did or didn't do! who but something you regret
I'm gonna try and read your minds now. A regret that you have... oh really?!
I suppose that's a regret we all have, failing and exam. This is a really nice
example of why we use the third conditional. If I had worked harder I
would have passed the exam. That's it! That's third conditional and you can see
that it looks similar to second conditional... we have if and we have would
but the verbs that follow are slightly different. We're going to come to that in
just a second. Let's think about another regret, simple things. For me, last
night, I had a really big ice cream! I probably shouldn't have.
So, I regretted it after. If I hadn't eaten that ice cream, I wouldn't have
felt so sick! So, let's just check that we understand the concept of third
conditional. If I had studied harder... now remember it's a regret and as with all
conditionals it's hypothetical this time though we're talking about the past
with a second and first conditional we can be talking about the present or
future. Never the case with third conditional. So, if I had studied harder
let's just check.. Did you study hard?... NO, that's what you
are regretting. You are regretting the fact that you didn't. So, if I had studied
harder, I would have passed the exam. Did you pass the exam?... NO!
So, if that's you and you regret failing an exam in the past then you could use
that conditional, third conditional. If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam.
Okay, let's have a look at the structure. So, turning to our first
example of exams. If I had worked harder, I would have passed the exam. So, just as
with first and second conditional we can switch those two clauses around. You can
see there's no comma in the second example when would comes first. We have
our 'IF' hypothetical clause and our 'would' result clause. Just remember that both
these actions didn't happen in the past. So, if I had studied harder. We have if
and had and a past participle. What tense is that guys?... that's right it is past
perfect, had plus a past participle. That might be an ED verb, so it could have
been 'worked' 'shopped' 'played' or an irregular verb, 'taught' 'caught' 'thought'. Okay.
Looking at the result clause with would. Now, remember this is third conditional,
so you don't use WILL. It would be WOULD COULD, SHOULD
You can even use 'may' and 'might' they're very versatile modal verbs. We can use
them in first second and third conditional. May and might, remember to
express a degree of uncertainty. So, with the result clause... now let's be careful
if you have a look we have 'would', 'should', 'could' etc.. Then we have 'HAVE" ..we have 'HAVE'!
Sorry, we have 'would have'. Now be careful! Some people might think this looks like
the present perfect because we have a past participle that follows but
remember with modal verbs we always have an infinitive form that follows. So you
can't have 'she would has' and that's why it's NOT present perfect. We would always
have 'would' and 'have' together and then the past participle.
Now, in the negative
form you can see it's not too difficult to change. Let's have a look at my 'ice
cream' example... if I hadn't eaten that ice cream. All we've done here is change
hadn't and it's always had or hadn't. Then if we come to the result course, we
would change would - wouldn't- I wouldn't have felt sick. Simple.
Now.. contractions...
This is very important, so pay attention to this last part! Listen carefully when
I contract my third conditional. If I'd worked harder. Not, if I had worked harder
we often say if I'd worked harder. Especially as with past perfect we can
actually have 'if she had had'. So, 'if she'd' had, if I'd had, if
you'd had, Sounds much more natural. So contracting 'had' with the pronoun or even
contracting 'had' with 'not', nice and simple, it flows much better. So, let's just check
our pronunciation. I'd, you'd, she'd, he'd, they'd, we'd. Good, okay, might sound
strange on its own but in a conditional perfect! Very natural, now the difficult
part and the part that actually sometimes makes native speakers make
errors with their grammar is the final part, where we have 'would'. So if I'd worked harder,
I'd have passed the exam. I'd have,
I'd have passed the exam.
okay, now, we can contract again
'would' this is quite tricky guys to be honest and where you sometimes can't
hear 'have' often because'have' is in the weak form here. 'HAVE' has a strong and a
weak form have and hev. Okay sometimes even 'ev' . Now this is where the mistakes
come. English people will often write... really they will... should 'OF' I should 'OF"
cooled ah this is a terrible grammar mistake, it's never of but because of the
weak form of have it sounds like it. So, one time all together, should've, could've
would've. okay should've could've would've passed the exam. Don't forget as
well.. I'd've passed the exam you can do both forms. Personally, I would
normally contract would and have, I would have. okay, now, one thing I will point out
that when we contract would and have it's actually only in spoken form not in
written, especially in formal letters essays, you wouldn't use these
contractions they are to informal and they're morel spoken. Especially 'would've.'
so, if I'd worked harder, I would've passed the exam. Okay, so that's really it
for third conditional that is expressing and...okay that's it...okay that's it
for third conditional expressing regrets just remember the structure the use and
the pronunciation of those contractions to help you when you're speaking but
really when you're listening! Thank you so much for watching, please do subscribe
to love English we will be covering mixed conditionals very soon! thank you
for watching, bye.