Second Conditional: What Would You Do?
B1⏱ 5 min
Second Conditional: What Would You Do?
“If I hadn’t left Bangladesh, I would never have worked as a sommelier in Sydney or held my daughter born in La Réunion.” Sourov uses this kind of sentence to reflect on the big decisions in his life — the ones that didn’t happen, or that he can only imagine. This is the territory of the second conditional: hypothetical situations and their imagined results.
🎯 Aim: Form and use the second conditional (If + past simple, … would + infinitive) to talk about unreal or hypothetical present/future situations.
The Structure
| Part | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| If-clause | If + past simple | If I lived in Sydney… |
| Main clause | would + bare infinitive | …I would visit Bondi every weekend. |
| Negative | wouldn’t + infinitive | I wouldn’t miss the cold weather. |
| Question | What would you do if…? | What would you do if you moved abroad? |
Key rule: The situation is imaginary or unlikely. We use past simple in the if-clause, but the meaning is present or future.
Examples from real life
- “If I lived closer to the beach, I would swim every morning.“
- “She would speak more French if she practised every day.“
- “If Sourov were still in Sydney, he would probably manage a different venue by now.“
- “What would you do if you had to choose between two countries?“
- “If I didn’t love La Réunion, I wouldn’t stay here.“
💡 Note on “were”: In formal English, if I were is preferred over if I was — especially in the phrase “If I were you…” (giving advice). Both are widely used in everyday speech.
Practice Task — Build the sentences
Use the prompts to write a second conditional sentence.
- (you / have / more time) → What would you do if …?
- (I / not know / how to cook) → If I … , I … eat out every night.
- (she / live / in France) → She would speak perfect French if …
- (we / not travel / so much) → We wouldn’t have so many stories if …
- (he / be / a teacher) → If he … a teacher, he … enjoy explaining grammar.
Show answers
- What would you do if you had more time?
- If I didn’t know how to cook, I would eat out every night.
- She would speak perfect French if she lived in France.
- We wouldn’t have so many stories if we didn’t travel so much.
- If he were / was a teacher, he would enjoy explaining grammar.
💡 CELTA Tip: A common learner error is using would in the if-clause: ❌ “If I would live…”. Highlight the rule visually: If + past | would + infinitive — never would in the if-clause.
Takeaway
The second conditional = If + past simple, would + infinitive. Use it for imaginary or unlikely situations. Never use would inside the if-clause.
Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours and four written assignments validated to the required standard.
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