6. The Second Conditional (Part 2) – English Grammar Guide

This episode is Part 2 of a three-part grammar series on The Second Conditional. Watch Part 1 here. Watch Part 3 of this series here.

Transcript

Today’s grammar point: The Second Conditional – Part 2: Conditions with the verb be.

To review the structure of the second conditional, check out our earlier video: The Second Conditional (Part 1).

Let’s look at an example sentence:

• If I were you I’d memorize this sentence!

Hang on a second. If I were you?! Shouldn’t that be was?

Not in the second conditional. In the second conditional, when we use the verb be, every subject takes were (If I were, if you were, if he were, if she were, and so on).

This is actually something that a lot of native speakers often get wrong, even in music. As you can see, Beyoncé has much better grammar than Gwen Stefani!

Examples

Let’s look at a few examples of how to use this grammar point correctly:

• If I were in charge, I’d make English grammar easier!
• I wish you were here! If you were here, we could go to the concert together.
• He’d have more friends if he weren’t such a bully.
• If we were wealthier, we wouldn’t have to worry about bills.

OK, over to you! Can you write a sentence using this grammar structure? If you can, write it in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you!

We hope you’ve found this grammar guide to be helpful. If you’re interested in learning even more about this common grammar structure, we recommend that you watch The Second Conditional (Part 3) next.

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