Contents
- Five minute guide
The key points if you’re short of time.
- First Conditional in detail
A more in-depth look at rules and usage of First conditional.
The key points if you’re short of time.
A more in-depth look at rules and usage of First conditional.
Five Minute Guide to First Conditional
Forming sentences with First Conditional
- If + present + will + base form of verb
Using First Conditional
- We use first conditional to talk about actions/events in the future which are likely to happen or have a real possibility of happening.
- If it rains tomorrow, I’ll stay at home.
(I think there is a real possibility of rain tomorrow. In this condition, I will stay at home) - If my father doesn’t buy me a bike for my birthday, I will be very unhappy.
(I think there is a real possibility that my father won’t buy me a bike. In this condition, I will be unhappy)
- If it rains tomorrow, I’ll stay at home.
Other rules and use of First Conditional
- We can use other modal verbs in place of “will”.
- If it’s sunny tomorrow, I might go to the beach. (Going to the beach is only a possibility)
- If you come early, you can meet my mother. (It is possible for you to meet my mother)
First Conditional in detail
What are conditionals?
Before we look at first conditional specifically, let’s recap what conditionals are.
Conditional sentences tell us that something will or might happen (some kind of result or consequence) if a certain condition is met. They are made up of two parts:
- an adverb clause of condition
- an independent clause
(Note: Adverb clauses are a type of dependent clause. This means that they can’t stand alone as a sentence – they need to be joined to an independent clause to make sense.)
Here’s an example:
- I’ll come on holiday with you if you don’t bring the dog.
In this sentence we’ve joined the adverb clause of condition “if you don’t bring the dog” to the independent clause “I’ll come on holiday with you”.
We can call the adverb clause of condition the condition clause and we can call the independent clause the result clause.
The condition clause asks the question under what condition something in the result clause happens. In this case, it asks the question under what condition I’ll come on holiday with you – “coming on holiday” is the result, or consequence, of “not bringing the dog”.
We can put these two clauses either way around, it doesn’t make any difference to the meaning. So we could also say:
- If you don’t bring the dog, I’ll come on holiday with you.
There are different ways we can put together conditional sentences, depending on whether we want to talk about conditions that are likely, unlikely or impossible to be met, results that are certain or just likely, and depending on whether we’re talking about the past, the present or the future.
One of the types of conditional is what we call first conditonal.
How to form First Conditional
Here’s another example:
- If it’s sunny tomorrow, I will go to the beach.
We form first conditional with the present tense in the condition clause and “will” (normally) in the result clause:
| Condition | Result |
|---|---|
| If it’s sunny tomorrow, | I will go to the beach. |
| If + present tense | + will + base form of verb |
What can we say about this sentence?
- We’re talking about a situation in the future.
- There is a real possibility (and often quite a strong likelihood) of the condition being met.
- If we use “will” in the result clause, then the result is certain.
So in the sentence above I am saying that there is a real possibility of sunny weather tomorrow. In the event that this forecast is accurate and therefore that the condition is met, then it is certain that I will go to the beach.
Here are some more examples:
- If you leave soon, you will catch your flight.
- If you eat any more, you’ll be sick!
In the first sentence, there is a very real possibility of you leaving soon. In the event that you do choose to leave soon, it is certain that you will catch your flight (or as certain as it is possible to be about the future.)
In the second sentence, you may listen to the speaker’s advice and stop eating, but there is a very real possibility that you will ignore the advice and eat more. In the event that you ignore the advice, then in the opinion of the speaker, you will certainly be sick.
First Conditional – Variations
With all of these examples, we’ve stuck to the present simple and “will” in the two clauses. We can also use some different forms of the present tense in the condition clause:
- If you’re staying for dinner, I’ll open a bottle of wine. (Present continuous in the condition clause)
- If they haven’t arrived in an hour, we’ll eat without them. (Present perfect in the condition clause)
In the result clause we can use other future forms:
- If you’re staying for dinner, I’m going to open a bottle of wine. (“Going to” in the result clause)
- If our team wins, we’ll be celebrating until morning! (Future continuous in the result clause)
We can also use imperatives:
- If you go shopping, get some milk.
…and modal verbs:
- If it’s sunny tomorrow we can go to the beach.
- If it rains tomorrow we should stay at home.
- If it’s sunny tomorrow we might go to the beach.
These different modal verbs tell us different things about the result. Remember, if we use “will” in the result clause then the result is certain. By using “might”, “may”, “can” or “could” we can show that the result is only a possibility. We can use “should” to give advice or make a suggestion about what to do if the condition is met.
First Conditional – Other clause markers
“If” is the most common clause marker (the word which introduces the condition clause) with first conditional, but we can use others instead:
- Unless it rains tomorrow, we’ll go to the beach.
- Provided it’s sunny tomorrow, we’ll go to the beach.
- As long as it’s sunny tomorrow, we’ll go to the beach.
14 comments
Maja Hadzic, Belgrade, Serbia
I usually give some examples of superstitions, for example,
If you break a mirror, you will…
I give students some more examples to finish orally and then have them make their own examples. They write down a couple of examples and in groups try to figure out what goes with the IF clause and the main clause. Report back to the class.
Peter
Maja, I like your idea of using superstitions as they are great for cross cultural interaction, however, in my opinion, superstitions are usually expressed in the zero conditional as they are basic ‘rules’ so to speak that generally don’t change, for example:
If you break a mirror, you GET 7 years of bad luck.
A first conditional structure would be:
What will happen if…?
which, again in my opinion, sounds a little strange for a superstition.
Liliana, Lima, Peru
First I start asking my students what they would like to do. They usually suggest watching a video, learning a new song, playing games, listening to stories, etc.
I write their suggestions on the board and then I mention the conditions in order to get what they have suggested. The sentences written on the board have different colours. I use green for the word “IF”, red for the modal verbs “WILL” or “CAN” and blue for the verbs.
Later I ask them to think of conditions their parents give/gave them at home:
If you eat vegetables… brush your teeth… don’t smoke… go to bed early, etc.
Tracey
I like this idea too – also doing an assignment on this.
Fareeha
This is absolutely brilliant! I’m currently doing a TEFL assignment on first conditionals for A2 level students. I have to come up with a context, activities, warmers and so on … this really helped me a lot! Thanks so much! Hope your teaching goes well!
Diana Magali
Students have pieces of paper… each student writes the first part:
If I go out tonight, I will go to the cinema.
and then swap papers. So the next student starts the sentence with the last one:
If I go to the cinema, I will get some popcorn.
and so on.
Hurasa
Ask students to think about election time, so pretend they are candidates. Ask them to convince their classmates to vote for them by using first conditional sentences: If you vote for me, I will increase your salary 10 times”
At the end, lets see which candidate gets more votes.
Mariam
Hi, how do I teach elementary A2 level (teenagers) students on the first conditional form… looking for some fresh ideas for this age please.
Any help will be appreciated.
Keith Taylor
Hi Mariam
The key with teenagers (as with any learners, but especially with teenagers) is to make it very relevant to their interests. Find the thing that they are most interested in and see if you can structure the lesson around that theme. For example, maybe you could base it around a celebrity’s Instagram – find some things that the celebrity would likely post about and then you’ve got “If she posts this, I’ll…”
Hope that helps.
Marzieh
Hi, I really need to know which one is correct?
A. If it is not sunny, we won’t go to the cinema.
B. If it doesn’t be sunny, we won’t go to the cinema.
Keith Taylor
Hi Marzieh
‘A’ is correct.
Hope this helps.
Tasmiyah
hi, I’m really struggling with the timeline for this sentence. can someone please help me.
What time line can I use to help students understand sentences such as ‘If it’s sunny tomorrow, we’ll go to the beach.’?
Rony Llanes
Hello everyone. I have a question about first conditional, maybe you can help me.
Here is the formula.
If + present + will + base form of verb
She’ll be late if the train is delayed.
Why this sentence is not according the formula? Why delayed instead of delay?
I don’t understand that. :(
I really appreciate your time.
Keith Taylor
Hi Rony
“…the train is delayed” is still the present tense. But it is a clause in passive voice. You can read more about passive voice and why we use it here: https://www.eslbase.com/grammar/passive
I hope this helps :-)
Keith