Learning English

If I hadn't told you…

Let's now look at the form for positive, negative and questions. Remember, the if part can come either first or second. If it comes second, you don't need a comma.

Positive
If you’d asked me to marry you, I’d have said no.
We’d have been in trouble if we’d missed the last train.

Negative
She wouldn’t have become ill if she’d taken the medicine.
It would have been better if they hadn’t come to the party. If you hadn’t been so friendly, I wouldn’t have talked to you.

Question
What would they have done if they’d lost their jobs?            
If I’d told him the truth, how would he have felt?

Read the text and complete the activity

To do

First, let's do an activity to test your understanding of sentences in the third conditional.

Numbers 1-8 in bold below give a situation in two sentences. You are going to combine each pair of sentences into a single sentence using the third conditional. The first part of each of these combined sentences is in italics. You complete them in our Finish the sentences game.

1) I didn’t go out. I didn’t leave you a note.

If I’d gone out, _______.

2) It was raining. We took a taxi.

If it hadn’t been raining, _______.

3) She wasn’t tired. She went to a party.

She wouldn’t have gone to a party _______.

4) He didn't lose his phone.

What would he have done ______?

5) We wanted to stay longer. We didn’t have enough time.

We would have stayed longer _______.

6) She didn’t see you in class. She didn’t say hello.

If she’d seen you in class, _______.

Next

Well done. Now, to hear a summary of all these points, join us again for 6 Minute Grammar!