Second Conditional Worksheets

Here we have a set of free second conditional worksheets for free download to help you teach this second step towards conditional mastery! If there is such a thing!

The second conditional is one of the easier to teach conditionals, and because it covers the unlikely but not the impossible it can be fun as well, these second worksheets will help you both introduce and consolidate this concept.

The second conditional describes an action that is unlikely to occur. The second conditional is used for things that are very unlikely but not impossible to happen. Things like flying in space, winning lotteries, becoming president etc. It can also used to describe hypothetical situations.

Examples of the Second Conditional

If I won the lottery, I would buy a big boat.
If I went to the moon, I would jump up and down.
If she didn’t go to school, she would not be so clever.
We would hire a car, if we knew how to drive.
I would buy a plane, if I had the money.
What would they do if we didn’t go to the party?

Conditional sentences in English often use “if” and “then”. The word “if” is used for three different purposes: as a verb particle; as a subordinating conjunction; and as an adverbial conjunction

The word “then” indicates what would happen after another event happens in a sentence (e.g. A: Have you cooked dinner? B: Yes, then I will wash the dishes).

Although there are four conditional sentence structures these five worksheets concentrate on the second conditional, there will be first and third sets of conditional worksheets coming in due course.

The second conditional is one of four conditional sentences. It refers a possible event, action, or state that might happen in the future. The other three are: The first conditional; the third conditional; and ‘conditional clauses’ (e.g., unless and provided that).

In general, the second conditional is used in conversation to unlikelihood and improbable actions as well as hypotheticals ( see the examples above) .

Just before you jump in more deeply with conditionals we have a special offer just for people who find this page as well! It is as the bottom so make sure you check that out!

How Can We Teach The Second Conditional?

• The second conditional is easy to learn because it uses the same structure as another common type of sentence:
• If + subject + verb (past), subject + would + verb (base form) + object
• Example: If I won the lottery I would buy car for you.
• The second conditional is a good structure to learn because it is flexible and can be used in many contexts:
• To talk about things that are unlikely but not impossible
• To discuss hypothetical situations

Note: if there the outcome is probable, we cannot use the second conditional.

To understand the second conditional, we must consider two things:

The use of conditionals in the real world and the function of conditionals in conversations.
The best way to learn about conditionals as they really are used is to listen and watch how native speakers really use them. Although this can be difficult at first, it is much more useful than studying grammar rules alone.

We learn grammar rules one at a time. Then we are tested on these and given marks in a language class. Most important, we are taught to “use” a structure or pattern correctly by learning when it naturally does not occur.

The best way, however, to really learn what conditionals are all about is to immerse yourself in real world conversations and listening situations using them with native speakers.

What are the differences between first, second and third conditionals?

We will be covering this is a mega post in the near future but here is a simple table to help in the meantime. We also are close to producing sets of worksheets on both the first and third conditionals as well.

Conditional	Sentence Examples	Verb Form	Tense and Use Case
Zero Conditional (fact/real)	If I am angry my face goes red. it is cold, if it snows.	Present and Present	Present and fact, always
First Conditional (Future/fact/real)	If we go now, we will catch the bus If I win the race, I will be happy	Present and future	Future – high probability.
Second Conditional (less probable or unlikely)	If I went to the moon, I would Jump up and down If I won the lottery, I would buy Buckingham Palace	Past and commonly modal	Future and improbable events
Third Conditional (Unlikely situations)	If I had gone to work last year, I would be manager now. If I had danced with her, I would be going out now.	Past perfect with Perfect and Modal.	Past unlikely occurrences.

We hope these second conditional worksheets are useful and feel free to check out both out free section and paid section for more ideas, worksheets and games to help you both learn and teach English.

You can download first conditional Worksheets on the picture below

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Happy Teaching!