Mr. Hundhausen’s Magic Conditional and Regret Chart


Timeframe      Hypothesis                       Result


[0) always               When it rains,                                        I take an umbrella.
J]


*1) future      If it rains tomorrow,            I will take an umbrella.

                        When I am a big boy,                               I will have a big fast
car.

                        If I learn something bad about him,         I will not go on a 2-week
holiday to India with him.

                                      If he behaves well,                                    I will
not do it.

                                      If it is the weekend,                                  I will
sleep.

                                      If she comes tomorrow,                                     I
will be there.

                        Supposing it rains,
what will you do?

                                               I hope it rains.


2) present       If it rained,                      I would take an umbrella.

                        If I was a big boy,                                     I would have a big
fast car.

                        If I knew that,                                           I would not go
there.

                                      If he behaved well,                                   I would
not do it.

                                      If it was the weekend,                              I would
still be asleep.

                        If she came,                                              I would be
there.

                        If it should rain,
I would….

                                               Should it rain,
                                   I would…..

            Regrets about the present using to be / to have / to know:

                                      I wish I was at home.

                                      I wish I had an umbrella.

                                      I wish I knew the thoughts of Zdenka the marketing lady.


         But CAREFUL! For other verbs, you must use could (when it’s not possible) or would (when
you are irritated):


I wish I could meet JD. L

                                      I wish I could fly.

                                      I wish I could go to NZ RIGHT NOW and escape this horrible
English lesson. L

                                      I wish I could write my whole thesis today.

                                      I wish I could go to lunch now.


                                      I wish those teenage girls would leave JD alone for me.

                                      I wish you would give me your sandwich.

                                      I wish Adam would give me my book.

                                      I wish my neighbour’s dog would stop barking!

                                      I wish our marketing lesson would be cancelled.

                                      I wish Adrian would stop being such an asshole.



*3) past          If it had rained,              I would have taken an umbrella.

                           If I had ever been a big boy,                    I would have had a big
fast car.

                            If I had known that,                                 I would not have
gone there.

                            If he had behaved well,                                      I would
not have done it.

                            If it had been the weekend,                      I would have slept / I
would have stayed in bed.

                            If she had come to Brno,                          I would have been
there to greet her.

Regrets about the past:

                            I wish I had not woken up so late.           (because I would have been
in English on time.)

                            I wish I had not cooked the rice too long.

                            I wish I had not written my assignment in a hurry.

                            I wish I had sent an important message to Adelka.

                            I wish I had not forgotten my thermos in Ostrava. L

                            I wish I had not chosen the wrong way in the forest.

                            I wish I had bought the stupid chicken for dinner tonight.

                            I wish I had not overslept.

                            I wish I had written my bachelor’s thesis.



Asterisk


Mixed conditionals:

I)                  hypothesis from 2 (present),                         result from 3 (past)

If I were intelligent,                             I wouldn’t have caused so many problems last
week.


II)     hypothesis from 3 (past)                                              result from 2
(present)

         If I had passed the test last year,                      I wouldn’t have to study today.

         I wish I had broken more hearts,                      because then I would be happier
today. J