Mixed Conditionals

 

Before you study this, make sure you understand second conditionals and third conditionals.

Second Conditionals

If I had a good job, I'd be rich.

This is an imaginary present situation, with its present result.

Third Conditionals

If I had studied medicine, I'd have become a doctor.

This is an imaginary past situation, with its past result.

Mixed Conditionals

A mixed conditional gives a situation and result - but one is in the past, and the other is in the present. For example:

If I had studied medicine at university, I'd be rich now.

This is an imaginary past situation, with an imaginary presentresult.

Imagined Past Situation	Imagined Present Result
if + had(n't) + past participle	would(n't) + verb (infinitive)
If we had taken the car,	we wouldn't be late.

Imagined Present Situation	Imagined Past Result
if + past simple	would(n't) + have + past participle
If I didn't love him,	I wouldn't have marriedhim.

As with all other conditionals, it doesn't matter which half of the sentence comes first:

If I didn't love him, I wouldn't have married him.

= I wouldn't have married him if I didn't love him.

The teacher wouldn't be tired now if she had gone to bed early.

From: The Tiny TEFL Teacher