The Second Conditional compared to the First Conditional.
The
second conditional uses the past simple after if, then 'would' and the
infinitive:
if
+ past simple, ...would + infinitive
(We can use 'were' instead of 'was' with 'I'
and 'he/she/it'. This is mostly done in formal writing).
It has two uses:
Ø First,
we can use it to talk about things in the future that are probably not going to be true.
Maybe I'm imagining some dream, for example.
o If I
won the lottery, I would buy a big house.(I probably won't
win the lottery)
o If I
met the Queen of England, I would say hello.
o She would travel all over the world if she were rich.
o She would pass the exam if she studied. (She never studies, so this
won't happen)
Ø Second,
we can use it to talk about something in the present which is impossible, because it's
not true.
Have a look at the examples:
o If I
had his number, I would call him. (I don't have his
number now, so it's impossible for me to call him).
o If I were you, I wouldn't go out with that man.
How
is this different from the first conditional?
This kind of conditional sentence is different
from the first conditional because this is a lot more unlikely.
For example in the second conditional:
o
If I had enough money I would buy a house with twenty bedrooms and a
swimming pool (I will probably not have this much money, it's just a dream, not
very real)
But in
the first conditional:
o
If I have enough money, I'll buy some new shoes (It's much more likely that
I'll have enough money to buy some shoes)
taken from: http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/second-conditional.html
