Learn English Grammar: The 2nd Conditional: WOULD & COULD

The second conditional allows us to talk about possible future results. In this lesson, you will learn how to use "would" and "could" to express a desired outcome for the future. There is a famous song that says, "If I were a rich man, I would..." These lyrics will allow you to easily remember the formula to express yourself in the second conditional. Now, if I were you, I would watch this video and do the quiz at http://www.engvid.com/the-2nd-conditional-would-could/

Don't forget to watch my other conditional videos:

FIRST CONDITIONAL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HILBmukYNZM

SECOND CONDITIONAL (this video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCM633yN5V4

THIRD CONDITIONAL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAthFgcjmVY

ZERO CONDITIONAL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7rxcDuZgN4

TRANSCRIPT

"If I were a rich man, yibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum." Good afternoon, good evening, good morning. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. Today we are doing the second conditional. It's my favourite conditional, because it's the conditional we use when we're talking about possible, but things that are dreams. The conditional for the dreamer. So, what are we going to talk about? This is a tense where it's kind of... It's saying: "If I had this, I would go and do this." We're going to run through the formula of how to use the tense, we're going to look at a popular song that uses this tense, and then we're going to start using it for ourselves. I hope that's clear. Let's get cracking.

Now, I like playing cricket. I want a £200 cricket bat, but unfortunately, I only have £100. Hmm, that's where I use the f-word. So, I write: "If I had £200 I would buy the bat." Okay? If I had £200, I would definitely buy the bat. No decision. I have already made my decision. But right now I do not have £200. I'm saying if I did have it. If I had £200, this is what I would do, I would buy the bat. Another way of saying it would be... A different meaning: "If I had £200 I could buy the bat." So, this way, buying the bat, it's an option, it's something I could decide to do, but I haven't definitely committed to buying it. If I had £200, sure, I could buy the bat, but I'm not saying that I will buy it. There's more power here in the "could".

So, how does this tense work? What's the magic formula? "If" plus the past simple, your verb in the past simple... So, here, we had: "If I had", so that's a past simple tense of "have", yeah? "Avoir" in French. "If I had" and then the conditional tense. And here, we're looking at sort of: "could", "would", "should", plus your verb in the infinitive. So: "If I had £200, I should buy the bat. You know, it'd be rude not to, really, wouldn't it?" Or: "I could buy the bat, but I might not, too." Or: "I would buy the bat." Yeah? So, "would" is kind of a little bit more desperate. "Could" is like: "Yeah, you know, maybe." And "should" is like: "Yes, that's the right thing to do." Okay? And then you've got your verb in the infinitive. "I would buy", okay? So we've got the verb "to buy" the bat, but we don't need "to". You don't need "to", so it's just the form of the verb in the infinitive without "to". "If I had I would".

Now, you kind of flip this on its head and put it in a slightly different word order. You could have your conditional tense followed by "if", followed by past simple. So, here, it would be: "I could buy the bat if I had £200." Yeah? So you're just flipping it around. It works, obviously, with: "could", "would", and "should". "I should buy the bat"... No, it doesn't really work with "should", that's crap. "I would buy the bat if I had £200." Okay? So you can use it this way or this way; the choice is yours. "If" plus a condition gets a result. "If", past simple, "I would". Okay?

Now, you kind of flip this on its head and put it in a slightly different word order. You could have your conditional tense followed by "if", followed by past simple. So, here, it would be: "I could buy the bat if I had £200." Yeah? So you're just flipping it around. It works, obviously, with: "could", "would", and "should". "I should buy the bat"... No, it doesn't really work with "should", that's crap. "I would buy the bat if I had £200." Okay? So you can use it this way or this way; the choice is yours. "If" plus a condition gets a result. "If", past simple, "I would". Okay?

Видео Learn English Grammar: The 2nd Conditional: WOULD & COULD канала Benjamin’s English · engVid