Third conditional (type 3)
Exercises with answers, PDF worksheets and grammar rules with examples.
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Third conditional exercises
Third conditional
Examples and grammar rules
The third conditional sentences always refer to the past. We speculate about situations that happened or did not happen in the past.
If I had won a million, I would have started a business of my own. (But I didn't win anything.)
If he had met her, he would have told her. (Unfortunately, he didn't meet her.)
If we hadn't practised, we wouldn't have won the match. (But we practised and won.)
We use the past perfect in the if clause and perfect infinitive (have + past participle) in the main clause.
Other forms
Apart from the basic form of the third conditional sentences, we can use other verb forms in English.
We didn't save any money. If we had saved some money, we might have bought the house.
She wasn't there and I wasn't sitting next to her. But if she had been there, I would have been sitting next to her.
I was looking at the trees when I fell off the bike. If I hadn't been looking at the trees, I wouldn' t have fallen off the bike.
Inverted conditionals
We can also make conditional sentences by changing the word order in the if clause.
Had he booked the hotel room, he wouln't have slept at the camp. (If he had booked...)
This form is less common, quite formal and is mostly used in writing.
Note
If is the most frequent expression in the if clauses, but other expressions are also possible: even if, provided (that), on condition (that), in case.
I would have left even if he had not wanted to.
You could have had your birthday party provided that you had not been so naughty.
We would have sold you the bike on condition you had paid in cash.
You should have taken a dictionary with you in case you had forgotten some words.
Third conditional PDF Printable grammar rules with examples.
All these materials are written for students and teachers of English as a foreign language.
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