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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Clauses and Sentences

Conditional sentence

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, conditional sentence means: A sentence with an if-clause and a main clause, used to talk about a condition and its result, real or imagined: 'If it rains, we'll stay in.'

In Turkish: koşul cümlesi, şart cümlesi

How it is used

Coursebooks teach zero, first, second and third conditionals, plus mixed conditionals. Linguists prefer labels such as real and unreal, or open and hypothetical, conditionals. People often just say 'a conditional'.

Example sentences

  1. 'If I had known, I would have called you' is a third conditional sentence about the past.

  2. In a second conditional sentence we use the past simple after if: 'If I had more time, I would learn Japanese.'

Common collocations

  • first conditional
  • second conditional
  • third conditional
  • mixed conditional
  • if-clause
  • subordinate clauseA clause that depends on a main clause and cannot stand alone as a sentence, such as 'when the bell rang' or 'that she was right'.
  • main clauseA clause that can stand alone as a complete sentence and carries the main idea, such as 'we cancelled the trip' in 'Because it rained, we cancelled the trip'.
  • modal verbAn auxiliary verb such as can, could, may, might, must, should, will or would that expresses ideas like ability, possibility, permission, obligation or advice.
  • tenseA grammatical category, shown by the form of the verb, that places an event in time relative to the moment of speaking, such as present or past.

More terms: Clauses and Sentences

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