The Conditionals | Page 2

Notice that we are thinking about an impossible past condition. You did not win the lottery. So the condition was not true, and that particular condition can never be true because it is finished. We use the Past Perfect tense to talk about the impossible past condition. We usewould have + past participle to talk about the impossible past result. The important thing about the third conditional is that both the condition and result are impossible now. Look at these example senteces: if condition result Past Perfect would have + past participle If I had seen Mary, I would have told her. If Tara had been free yesterday, I would have invited her. If they had not passed their exam, their teacher would have been sad. If it had rained yesterday, would you have stayed at home? If it had rained yesterday, what would you have done?