1.1. What would happen if everyone cared? (2nd Conditional Uses)
Caso práctico
Listen to the song and then do the activities below. You can have a look at the lyrics in 'click here'.
Vídeo de Roadrunner Recordsen Youtube |
The message of the song is shown at the end of the video:
A SMALL GROUP OF COMMITTED PEOPLE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.
1. Which four people are mentioned in the video (not in the lyrics) as examples of people who changed the world in some way? (by the way, the first two were Irish)
2. Why did the music journalist organize the first global charity concert?
3. Where and when were the three children killed?
4. What important organization was created after Peter Benenson's letter?
5. Why was Nelson Mandela sentenced to life in prison?
Caso práctico
The following paragraph from the song uses second conditional examples:
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died
Does the singer think this is impossible or unlikely to happen?
Importante
In topic 4, we learned that first conditional sentences are used to talk about possible or likely events and their result. Second conditional sentences, on the contrary, are used to talk about hypothesis or unlikely events and their result.
For example:
- If I were a boy, I'd listen to her. (hypothesis, I'm a girl) (Si fuese un chico, hablaría con ella)
- If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world like Paco. (It's not impossible, but I don't expect this to happen) (Si me tocase la lotería, viajaría alrededor del mundo como Paco)
Do you remember the song 'If I were a boy' in the introduction?
Why does she say 'I were' and not 'I was'? The answer is easy: in second conditional sentences we often use this form of the verb 'to be' for the first person singular. The same goes for the third person singular. In both cases, 'were' is more common in writing or more formal language.
Finally there is another reason to use the Second Conditional construction: to give advice:
If I were you, I would study harder.
I wouldn't tell this to your mother if I were you.
In Spanish, it is equivalent to the expressions: si yo fuera tú, yo de tí......
Comprueba lo aprendido
Are these sentences correct (true) or incorrect (false)?
Retroalimentación
Falso
Retroalimentación
Verdadero
Retroalimentación
Verdadero
Retroalimentación
Falso
Retroalimentación
Verdadero
Retroalimentación
Falso
Retroalimentación
Verdadero
Retroalimentación
Falso
Para saber más
Practice more on first and second conditional sentences by doing these exercises:
Exercise 1 |
Exercise 2 |
Exercise 3 | Exercise 4 |
Let's learn some phrasal verbs in the next section!