Conditionals type 3 or third conditionals are used to describe a past event that is different to what really happened. These sentences are solely hypothetical, thus there is always some implication of regret.
If we hadn't booked this trip, we wouldn't have missed her graduation ceremony. (We wanted to be at her graduation ceremony but we missed it because we were on a trip somewhere else.)
Use the past perfect tense in the if clause and would have + the past participle in the main clause. Note that the order of the main and if clauses are not fixed. Although when the if clause precedes the main one, use a comma.
| IF clause (If + past perfect) | MAIN clause (would have + Ved/past participle) |
|---|---|
| If we had bought that lottery ticket, | we would have won. |
| If Jake hadn't drunk that night, | he wouldn't got into the car accident. |
Note that both would and had can be contracted to `d. Remember that would never appears in the if clause.
If I had known that, I would have warned you = If I'd known that, I'd have warned you
I could call Kelly that time. I know that she would help me.
I really wanted to go to the party but I had too much homework.
–Would you have come to my party if you had known that Meredith was there?
–I definitely wouldn't have come to your party if I had known she was there. I'm glad that I saw her standing somewhere in the crowd right when I entered your place and had a chance to avoid the greeting part.
–If I had known that you two weren't on good terms, I wouldn't have invited her.
-It's already in the past. Don't worry about it.
Match the sentences.
| a. If Emma would have been more attentive, | 1. we wouldn't have been lost. | |
| b. If there had been Wi-Fi, | 2. I wouldn't have been staying up late working on my thesis. | |
| c. Erick would have lost the fight | 3. we would have won the cup. | |
| d. If I had been better at time management, | 4. you would have known the news. | |
| e. If Pam had written a shopping list, | 5. she wouldn't have failed the class. | |
| f. If you had called me last week, | 6. she wouldn't have forgotten to buy tea. | |
| g. If your team would have scored more goals, | 7. if he hadn't worked out every single day. |
Write three sentences with third conditionals.