How to bluff your way in "BALLOON SENTENCES"*, the basics:

[*or: conditional clauses/"if-Sätze"]

TYPE I:     PRESENT TENSE                                                         WILL FUTURE

                   If you blow too hard,                                                         the balloon will burst.

                   If it rains this afternoon,                                                    I’ll stay at home.

                   If you don’t do your assignment,                                        you’ll get into trouble.

                                         or the other way round, this time WITHOUT a comma:

                    WILL FUTURE                                                             PRESENT TENSE

                    The balloon will burst                                                      if you blow too hard.

                    I’ll stay at home                                                               if it rains this afternoon.

                    You’ll get into trouble                                                     if you don’t do your assignment..

TYPE II:     PAST TENSE                                                                CONDITIONAL I ("would do")

                    If you blew too hard,                                                        the balloon would burst.

                    If it rained this afternoon,                                                 I would stay at home.

                    If you didn’t do your assignment,                                      you would get into trouble.

                                     or the other way round, this time WITHOUT a comma:

                    CONDITIONAL I ("would do")                                    PAST TENSE

                    The balloon would burst                                                    if you blew too hard.

                    I would stay at home                                                         if it rained this afternoon.

                    You would have problems                                                 if you didn’t do your assignment.

TYPE III:     PAST PERFECT                                             CONDITIONAL II ("would have done")

                     If you had blown too hard,                                       the balloon would have burst.

                     If it had rained this (or: yesterday) afternoon,               I would have stayed at home.

                     If you hadn’t done your assignment,                         you would have got into trouble.

                                        or the other way round, this time WITHOUT a comma:

                      CONDITIONAL II ("would have done")                        PAST PERFECT

                     The balloon would have burst                                          if you had blown too hard.

                     I would have stayed at home                                 if it had rained this (or: yesterday) afternoon.

                     You would have got into trouble                                        if you hadn’t done your assignment.

                                         There are many further types of conditional clauses, e.g.:

If you should blow too hard, the balloon would burst.

Should you blow too hard, the balloon would burst.

Had you blown too hard, the balloon would have burst.

In case you blow too hard, the balloon will burst.

Unless you are careful, the balloon will burst.

You can also use "provided/providing (that)", "supposing (that) and "as/so long as" to form conditional clauses.

For further information consult:

Hewings: §99 - §101

Swan: §258 –§265

Ungerer: § 215 - §218

Lamprecht: §669 ff.

Cornelsen: §232 ff.

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