Educator

Conditional Tenses & Subjunctive Mood

• Conditional tenses are used to express what we would do or what would happen.
• Conditional tenses have two parts: a subordinating “if” clause (the condition) and an independent “then” clause (the result). Verb forms vary according to the kind of statement being made.
• If your statement states a conditional fact, use the simple present in the “if” clause and the simple present in the “then” clause.
• If your statement makes a prediction, use the simple present in the “if” clause and will, can, may, should, or might with the base form of the main verb in the “then” clause.
• If your sentence speculates about something unlikely to happen, use the past tense in the “if” clause and could, might, or would with the base form of the verb in the “then” clause.
• If your sentence speculates about something that didn’t happen in the past, use the past perfect in the “if” clause and could have, might have, or would have with the past participle form of the main verb in the “then” clause.
• if your sentence speculates about something that’s contrary to fact, use were (the subjunctive) in the “if” clause and could, might, or would with the base form of the verb in the “then” clause.
• The subjunctive mood uses the base form for all verbs in the present tense, except to be, which uses were for the subjunctive.
• Use the subjunctive mood to describe something wished for, requested, or contrary to fact.