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In the English language you mainly distinguish between three types of conditional clauses:
| 1. If-clauses whose condition is likely to materialise or to happen (reale Bedingung) |
| 2. If-clauses whose condition relates to the present or near future, but is very unlikely
to materialise or happen or is only hypothetical (irreale Bedingung) |
| 3. If-clauses whose condition relates to the past and therefore cannot be materialised (irreale Bedingung) |
Ad 1: bei dieser Art von if-Sätzen steht im if-Satz bzw. Hauptsatz folgende Zeitenfolge:
| if-clause |
main-clause |
| present tense, past tense, present perfect, past perfect |
every tense without the conditional (but mainly future tense and present tense) or imperative or auxialiaries |
Examples:
| if-clause |
main-clause |
| If you don't come, |
I will be disappointed. |
| If it rains, |
the roads are too slippery to drive on. |
| If my friend left an hour ago, |
he can't be here before 3 o'clock. (Annahme durchaus im Bereich des Möglichen) |
Ad 2: bei dieser Art von if-Sätzen wird folgende Zeitenfolge angewandt:
| if-clause |
main-clause |
| past tense |
conditional I |
Examples:
| if-clause |
main-clause |
| If I lived in America, |
I would own two cars. |
| If I were (was) a millionaire, |
I would donate money for schools to buy computers... |
Ad 3: bei dieser Art von if-Sätzen gebraucht man folgende Zeitenfolge:
| if-clause |
main-clause |
| past perfect |
conditional II (rarely cond I - no rules without exceptions) |
Examples:
| if-clause |
main-clause |
| If he had worked harder, |
he would have passed his exam. |
Sieht man sich die beiden Typen von irrealen if-Sätzen an, so kann man grundsätzlich
sagen, daß im if-Satz selber kein would steht!!! Allerdings gibt es wie immer
auch hier Ausnahmen wie in folgendem Satz:
I would appreciate it, if you would help me.
Hier stammt das 'would' im if-Satz von 'will' und heißt 'bereit sein zu tun; wollen'.
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