Here are three advanced conditional phrases native speakers ACTUALLY use that you probably wouldn’t

Here are three advanced conditional phrases native speakers ACTUALLY use that you probably wouldn’t learn in a normal English class! When you first learned about the conditional mood in English, you were probably taught the first and second conditionals right away, but you most likely were NOT taught that there’s another way to say “if” in English and that the second conditional doesn’t always have to start with “if” and a past tense verb, and these are exactly the things I teach you in today’s video!

Take note of these three advanced conditional phrases in English:

🔸If I were to + verb = we can use this phrase in the second conditional to express that we think something is very unlikely:

If I were to start my own business, it would definitely be a coffee shop.
If we were to do a road trip all over Europe, I would want to start in Spain.
If the opportunity were to arise, I would definitely take advantage of it.

🔸In the event that/of = this phrase has the same meaning as “if”, and we can use “in the event of” with nouns. This phrase is a bit more formal (especially “in the event of” + a noun) and less common in spoken English, but it’s still useful to be familiar with it since you may hear it in TV shows or movies:

In the event that the restaurant is fully booked, we’ll just have takeout delivered to our hotel rooms.
In the unlikely event that this idea doesn’t work, I’ll have to come up with another plan.
We have a plan in place in the event of a fire.

🔸If need be = this is a common phrase in spoken English that has the same meaning as “if necessary”:

We can always reschedule the meeting if need be.
You can use my car for the weekend if need be.
I can go to the grocery store and get it for you if need be.

Now, practice using these phrases in the comments below!

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