THIRD/UNREAL CONDITIONAL: USE

We use the third/unreal conditional in the following ways:

1 to talk about unreal past possibilities:

If the weather had been nice yesterday, we would have gone swimming. (but the weather was not nice)

2 to express regrets about the past:

If I hadn’t missed the bus, I would have arrived early. (I regret missing the bus)

We make the third/unreal conditional using this structure:

if + subject + past perfect, subject + would have

We can also use could have or might have instead of would have in the main clause:

If I had had my cell phone with me, I could have called the police.

If the dog hadn’t barked, the thief might have escaped.

Learning tip

Talk to your friends about things in the past you would have done differently.