English B2 · Third and mixed conditionals
영어 B2 주제 3 3:47 영어 내레이션 · 영어 + 중국어 자막 burned-in
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B1's second conditional imagines a different present. B2 adds the imagined past: the third conditional, and the mixed conditional, where an imagined past changes the present. If I had left earlier, I would have caught the bus; I didn't leave early, the bus is gone, we are both sad. If I had slept more, I wouldn't be tired now. The memory hook: the third conditional is the time machine of regret; the had row rewinds, the would-have row replays.
The third conditional rewinds the past: if plus the past perfect, then would have plus the participle. If I had studied harder, I would have passed the test. If you had left at eight, you would have caught the bus. If we had brought an umbrella, we wouldn't have got wet. Speech compresses it: if I'd known, I'd have come. This is the official language of regret, spoken fluently at every farewell party.
Pause and choose. If we had brought an umbrella, we wouldn't have got wet. The if-side takes had plus the participle, and bring rebels to brought. Would have brought parks would on the wrong side, which is illegal in every conditional since B1.
The mixed conditional: the if-side rewinds the past, and the result lands in the present. If I had slept more, I wouldn't be tired now. Compare the third: if I had slept more, I wouldn't have been tired yesterday; both sides in the past. The time words signal the landing: now, today, tonight. If we had bought tickets, we would be at the concert tonight. One rewind, one landing, and the tense tells you where each one touches down.
Pause and choose. She wouldn't order noodles every night. Every night is the present, so the imagined past lands in the imagined present: the mixed conditional. Wouldn't have ordered would land the result in the past, where the noodles are no longer being ordered, which is not what every night means.
The traps. The imagined past wears the past perfect, two steps back: if I had known, never if I had knew; had is the engine and the participle is the costume. And would never enters the if side: if I would have known is wrong in every dialect of regret. Chinese keeps the verbs calm, so the double rewind feels heavy; say five sentences aloud and it lightens. Regret has a tense. Learn from it anyway, then go study; the time machine only travels in sentences.
Confess three regrets, then mix one into the present. If I had studied harder, I would have passed the maths test; the maths test sends its regards. If we had brought an umbrella, we wouldn't have got wet; the cloud had warned us, and we had not listened. And the mix: if I had slept more last night, I wouldn't be tired now; and if I weren't tired now, I would stop talking about it.
Pause for four checks. If I had left earlier, I would have caught the bus: both verbs rewind. If she had learned to cook, she wouldn't order noodles now: the mixed landing. If I had known, never if I would have known: would stays on the result side. And the forms: had brought, had known, had slept. Next topic: wish and if only, the polite cousins of regret.