Third Conditional

Third Conditional 

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. Muy a menudo se usan para hablar de algo de lo que nos arrepentimos, pero también para reprochar algo o sencillamente para imaginar una situación que podía haberse desarrollado de otra manera.

La estructura para esta condicional es:

Estructura afirmativa

If clause	Result clause
If + sujeto + had + participio	sujeto + would + have + participio

Se usa una coma cuando if está al principio de la oración.

Ejemplos:

• If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a house.
• If he had studied, he would have passed the exam.

Al igual que con los otros condicionales, no es necesario empezar con if.

• She would have been on time for the interview if she had left the house at eight.

Estructura negativa

Si queremos hacer oraciones negativa sólo debemos agregar not después de had (had not o hadn’t).

Para formar el negativo del resultado se agrega “not” (wouldn’t, couldn’t, might not).

If clause	Result clause
If + sujeto + hadn’t + participio	sujeto + wouldn’t/ would +  have + participio

Ejemplos:

• If I hadn’t known I wouldn’t have gone.
• If they hadn’t called the police, the thieves could have escaped.
• We would have gone fishing if it hadn't rained.

Estructura interrogativa

Result clause	If clause
Would + sujeto + have + participio	if + sujeto + had + participio + ?

Ejemplos:

• Would you have gone if you had known?
• What would you have done if you had been in the same situation?

También se pueden usar las formas contraídas de had para el pasado perfecto (I'd, you'd, he'd, she'd, it'd, we'd, they'd) y would (I'd, you'd, he'd, she'd, it'd, we'd, they'd).

Ejemplo:

• If you'd passed my driving test, you would have bought a car.
• If I’d seen them, I’d have asked them to come over. (had, would).

En las formas negativas las contracciones son hadn't=had not, wouldn't have= would not have y couldn't have=could not have. “Might not have” no se contrae.

También se pueden contraer "would" y "have": "would’ve":

Ejemplo:

• If more people had come, we would’ve finished earlier.

A veces se utiliza “should have”, “could have”, “might have” en lugar de “would have”.

Ejemplos:

• If you had bought a lottery ticket, you might have won.
• If they hadn't been so busy, they could have helped you.