[Grammar] Conditional: if + past or present?

[kuni]

Dear all,

I have two questions about the use of conditional.
I suppose it is quite normal to say:

"If I won the lottery, I would buy a car. "

But when I want to express my strong belief that I am very certain that I will win the lottery, can I say:

"If I win the lottery, I will buy a car"?


Similarly, I know it is ok to say:

"If it is fine tomorrow, I will go camping."

However, when I watch a TV weather forecast which says it will rain tomorrow, and I believe in it, can I say:

"If it was fine tomorrow, I would go camping"?


Can you think of any other situations like those above?


Thank you in advance!!

[engee30]

Originally Posted by kuni

dear all,

i have two questions about the use of conditional.
I suppose it is quite normal to say:

"if i won the lottery, i would buy a car. " a pessimist's point of view

but when i want to express my strong belief that i am very certain that i will win the lottery, can i say:

"if i win the lottery, i will buy a car"? an optimist's point of view


similarly, i know it is ok to say:

"if it is fine tomorrow, i will go camping."

However, when i watch a tv weather forecast which says it will rain tomorrow, and i believe in it, can i say:

"if it was fine tomorrow, i will go camping"?


Can you think of any other situations like those above?


Thank you in advance!!

[David L.]

But when I want to express my strong belief that I am very certain that I will win the lottery, can I say:

"If I win the lottery, I will buy a car"?

No - you would say (and others would realize that you were jesting, or choosing to ignore the odds in favour of a nice fantasy):
"When I win the lottery, I will/I'll buy a car."

However, when I watch a TV weather forecast which says it will rain tomorrow, and I believe (in-omit) it, can I say:

"If it was fine tomorrow, I will go camping"?


"If it had been fine tomorrow, I would have gone camping."

Can you understand why I have used this tense form of the verb?

[engee30]

Originally Posted by David L.

But when I want to express my strong belief that I am very certain that I will win the lottery, can I say:

"If I win the lottery, I will buy a car"?

No - you would say (and others would realize that you were jesting, or choosing to ignore the odds in favour of a nice fantasy):
"When I win the lottery, I will/I'll buy a car."

I daresay you're wrong about it, David. In conditional sentences of that sort you don't use when in place of if, never!

[tientien0926]

Originally Posted by David L.

But when I want to express my strong belief that I am very certain that I will win the lottery, can I say:

"If I win the lottery, I will buy a car"?

No - you would say (and others would realize that you were jesting, or choosing to ignore the odds in favour of a nice fantasy):
"When I win the lottery, I will/I'll buy a car."

However, when I watch a TV weather forecast which says it will rain tomorrow, and I believe (in-omit) it, can I say:

"If it was fine tomorrow, I will go camping"?


"If it had been fine tomorrow, I would have gone camping."

Can you understand why I have used this tense form of the verb?

Hello, could you please explain why you'd use a past perfect verb tense
in this conditional?

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by kuni

Dear all,

I have two questions about the use of conditional.

Oh, oh, oh - you're going to get a lot of answers here. I hope you can sort them all out.

I suppose it is quite normal to say:

"If I won the lottery, I would buy a car. " Yes.

But when I want to express my strong belief that I am very certain that I will win the lottery, can I say:

"If I win the lottery, I will buy a car"? No, but almost. Your first sentence is somewhat hypothetical. Even more hypothetical is: "If I were the lottery winner, I would buy a car."

Your second example, "If I win...," recognizes that winning is possible, but not probable.

To express strong belief, it would have to say:

"When I win the lottery, I will buy a car."

Even stronger:

"Once I've won the lottery, I will be buying a car." This makes it sound absolutely inevitable.

Similarly, I know it is ok to say:

"If it is fine tomorrow, I will go camping." Yes.

However, when I watch a TV weather forecast which says it will rain tomorrow, and I believe in it, can I say:

"If it was fine tomorrow, I would go camping"? No. "Was fine tomorrow" does not work. It mixes past and future.

If you're absolutely certain it will rain, the strongest thing to say is: "If it were going to be fine tomorrow, I would have gone camping."

Can you think of any other situations like those above? Yes.

Thank you in advance!!

Those are hard concepts to master! I wish you luck. It's clear that you're making good progress. Keep asking questions.

[I edit copy and have tutored college writing.]

[bhaisahab]

"If it had been fine tomorrow, I would have gone camping."

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by bhaisahab

"If it had been fine tomorrow, I would have gone camping."

"If it had been going to be fine two days after yesterday, I wouldn't have gotten to have gone to go get going camping. And be sure to bring the ants."

[Charlie Bernstein]

(That was for extra credit.)

[engee30]

Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein

Your second example, "If I win...," recognizes that winning is possible, but not probable.

To express strong belief, it would have to say:

"When I win the lottery, I will buy a car."

Even stronger:

"Once I've won the lottery, I will be buying a car." This makes it sound absolutely inevitable.

Only If I win/won the lottery... is a conditional clause; the following are just time clauses:
When I win/When I've won the lottery...
Once I win/I've won the lottery...

But since winning the lottery is not the same as, say doing one's homework, it's really hard to consider it a conditional aspect.