SECOND CONDITIONAL
El segundo condicional, o condicional de presente, habla de cosas que aún podrían suceder, aunque la posibilidad de que ocurran parece remota: I’d go if you came along (Yo iría si tú vinieras conmigo). Veamos cómo se forma y luego, ¡a practicar!
La teoría
Al construirlo usamos el pasado simple:
If + sujeto + pasado simple + sujeto + would + infinitivo (sin to)
If I were a rich man, I would buy a magic pill to learn English in a week.
Aunque algunos nativos dicen If I was…, ¡tú no! Está mal. Es como decir haiga en español. Lo correcto es usar siempre were para todas las personas gramaticales con el verbo to be en estos casos.
Aquí, como en el primer condicional, tampoco es necesario empezar con if; la frase del ejemplo también podría ser I would buy a magic pill to learn English in a week if I were a rich man. Eso sí, si ves if y would en la misma oración, ahí pasa algo. Algo que no nos gusta nada.
La práctica
Empezamos con frases que contienen were. Ten cuidado de no decir /güer/, sino /uée/. Repite en voz alta estas frases, o estarás perdiendo el tiempo.
| Si fuera hombre, me dejaría barba. | If I were a man, I’d grow a beard. |
| Si fuera nuestro jefe, le llamaríamos señor. | If he were our boss, we’d call him sir. |
| Si fuéramos guerreras, ¡combatiríamos el mal! | If we were warriors, we’d fight evil! |
Sigamos con la negativa. Wouldn’t se pronuncia /uúdnt/, en un solo golpe de voz y sin ningún sonido de g.
| No estarías aquí si no fuera por tus padres. | You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for your parents. |
No le gustaría (a ella) si le pasara a ella. | She wouldn’t like it if it happened to her. |
| No lo harían si no lo disfrutaran. | They wouldn’t do it if they didn’t enjoy it. |
Y ahora vamos con la interrogativa. No olvides invertir el would y el sujeto, que, si no, ¡no es una pregunta!
| ¿Te importaría si me quitara las botas? | Would you mind if I took off my boots? |
| ¿(Yo) le caería bien (a ella) si fuera mi jefa? | Would she like me if she were my boss? |
| ¿Heriría (yo) tus sentimientos si no viniera? | Would I hurt your feelings if I didn’t come? |
El tercer condicional se refiere a circunstancias pasadas, por lo que habla de cómo habrían sido las cosas si alguna condición se hubiera cumplido, o no. Veámoslo en más detalle.
ESTRUCTURA
IF +sujeto PASADO PERFECTO + sujeto WOULD HAVE + PARTICIPIO
La teoría
Vamos directos al grano. La fórmula básica para estos condicionales es la siguiente:
Afirmativa
| If | sujeto | had | participio | sujeto | would have | participio |
| If | I | had | known, | I | would have | gone. |
Negativa
| If | sujeto | hadn’t | participio | sujeto | wouldn’t have | participio |
| If | I | hadn’t | known, | I | wouldn’t have | gone. |
Interrogativa
| Would | sujeto | have | participio | if | sujeto | had | participio |
| Would | you | have | gone | if | you | had | known? |
Al igual que con los otros condicionales, no es necesario empezar con if. Eso sí, if y would nunca van en la misma oración.
La práctica
Presta atención a la pronunciación de la contracción would’ve. Decimos /uúdavvv/.
| Si (yo) hubiera estado allí, me habría reído. | If I’d been there, I would’ve laughed. |
| Si te hubieras venido, nos habríamos divertido mucho. | If you’d come along, we would’ve had lots of fun. |
| Si hubiera venido más gente, habríamos acabado antes. | If more people had come, we would’ve finished earlier. |
Ahora veamos unas cuantas oraciones más en negativa. Wouldn’t have se pronuncia /uúdentavvv/.
| Si ella no se hubiera caído, no nos habrían mirado. | If she hadn’t fallen over, they wouldn’t have looked at us. |
| (Él) no se habría resfriado si la calefacción no hubiera estado tan baja. | He wouldn’t have caught a cold if the heating hadn’t been on so low. |
| No habríamos sentido nada si no lo hubiéramos tocado. | We wouldn’t have felt anything if we hadn’t touched it. |
¡Solo queda la interrogativa! Veremos would you have /uúdiuhhhavvv/, would he have /uúdihhhavvv/ y would it have /uúditavvv/.
| ¿Habrías colgado si hubiera sido ella? | Would you have hung up if it had been her? |
| ¿Se habría arrepentido (él) si lo hubiera hecho? | Would he have regretted it if he’d done it? |
| ¿Habría ocurrido si no hubiéramos vendido el coche? | Would it have happened if we hadn’t sold the car? |
Extra
Clave de pronunciación
Para pronunciar la contracción would’ve, di /uúdavvv/. Cuanto más rápido lo digas, mejor te va salir.
Error común
Ten cuidado con el orden de las palabras y no digas have en vez de had. Es muy fácil confundirse, así que presta especial atención.
Consejo clave
Hay mucha gente que en castellano dice Si ella hubiera venido, yo hubiera ido. ¡Pues en inglés no se puede decir así. Lo correcto es: If she had come, I would have gone.
VIDEO - THIRD CONDITIONAL
So, Too, Neither and Either
'So do I' and 'neither do I'
I use 'so do I' to say that a positive sentence is also true for me, and I use 'neither do I' to say that a negative sentence is also true for me:
- John: I hate mushrooms.
- Me: So do I (=I also hate mushrooms).
- Lucy: I don't live in London.
- Me: Neither do I (=I also don't live in London. For example, maybe Lucy and I both live in Paris).
This is often used as a reply to someone else in a conversation, but both sentences can also be said by the same person, and even joined together:
- Me: Elizabeth loves coffee. So do I.
- Me: Harry doesn't play the piano and neither do I.
In my examples above, I use 'do' because the first sentence is in the present simple tense. The verb after 'so' or 'neither' changes depending on the tense of the verb in the first sentence. (This is very similar to tag questions).
| Present simple: use 'do / does' | Lucy likes coffee. So do I. Lucy doesn't like coffee. Neither do I. |
| Present simple with 'be': use 'am / is / are' | John's at the office. So am I. John isn't at the office. Neither am I. |
| Present continuous: use 'am / is / are' | Luke's going out tonight. So am I. Luke isn't going out tonight. Neither am I. |
| Past Simple: use 'did' | Jill went to the cinema yesterday. So did I. Jill didn't go to the cinema yesterday. Neither did I. |
| Past simple with 'be': use 'was / were' | She was at the library. So was I. She wasn't at the library. Neither was I. |
| Present perfect: use 'have / has' | They've been to Colombia. So have I. They haven't been to Colombia. Neither have I. |
| Future simple: use 'will' | Edward will be at the cafe later. So will I. Edward won't be at the cafe later. Neither will I. |
| Modal verbs: repeat the modal verb | He would like a cup of tea. So would I. He wouldn't like a cup of tea. Neither would I. Emma can speak Russian. So can I. Emma can't speak Russian. Neither can I. |
What about 'too' and 'either'?
We can also use 'I do too' and 'I don't either', which mean the same as 'so do I' and 'neither do I':
- John: I hate mushrooms.
- Me: I do too (=I also hate mushrooms).
- Lucy: I don't live in London.
- Me: I don't either (=I also don't live in London).
The verb changes in the same way as with 'so do I' and 'neither do I' (remember you need a negative verb with 'either'):
- Present simple: John's at the office. I am too.
- Present continuous: Luke isn't going out tonight. I'm not either.
- Present perfect: They've been to Colombia. I have too.
- Modal verbs: Emma can't speak Russian. I can't either.
'Me too' and 'me neither':
We can also use 'me too' and 'me neither'. 'Me too' has the same meaning as 'so + auxiliary verb + I' and 'me neither' has the same meaning as 'neither + auxiliary verb + I'. 'Me too' and 'me neither' are very informal:
- John: I hate mushrooms.
- Me: Me too (=I also hate mushrooms).
- Lucy: I don't live in London.
- Me: Me neither (=I also don't live in London).
Subjects other than 'I':
Of course, we can also use these expressions to talk about what's true for other people, not just ourselves:
- John: I hate mushrooms.
- Me: So does Laura / Laura does too / Laura too.
- Lucy: I don't live in London.
- Me: Neither does David / David doesn't either / David neither.
Some more examples:
- We live in London and so do they.
- Emma loves tennis. Jill and Laura do too.
- My parents don't come here often. Neither does Alex.
- She isn't French and neither is he.
- You don't like cold weather. Neither do we.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario