STAN - INVERTED CONDITIONALS

1. Inverted Conditionals – First Conditional (“Should”)

Let’s take a simple first conditional sentence:

If he remembers his own name, we’ll be able to help him.

To invert this:

1. Replace “if” with “should.”

2. Replace the verb with the bare infinitive. (e.g. “goes” →” go,” “has” → “have,” am/is/are
→ “be”)

Should he remember his own name, we’ll be able to help him.

Easy, right?

2. Inverted Conditionals – Second Conditional (“Were”)

OK. This one is fun but also a little more complex.

There are actually two uses of the inverted second conditional:

1. With verbs, to describe an unlikely future

2. With “be,” to describe an unreal present state

Let’s look at them one by one.

Inverted Second Conditional for Unlikely Future Events

We can use the second conditional to talk about something in the future that probably isn’t going
to happen.

You know, like how everyone said that Brexit wouldn’t happen. Or that Trump wouldn’t get
elected President.

Of course, these things happened — but they seemed very unlikely to happen at the time.

That’s when we could’ve used this tense.

Here’s an example:

If he pushed the button, we’d all have problems.

To invert this:

1. Replace “if” with “were.”

2. Change the verb to the infinitive form (with “to”).

Were he to push the button, we’d all have problems.

So back at the beginning of 2016, we could’ve said things like:

Were Brexit to happen, I’d be surprised.

or…

Were Trump to get elected, we’d all be surprised. Very surprised.

It was a very surprising year.

Inverted Second Conditional for Unreal Present States

The last examples (Trump getting elected and Brexit happening) were solid events, with
“proper” verbs.

But we can also use this inversion with the verb “be.”

Example? OK — here we go:

If I was ridiculously rich, I think I’d still work.

To invert this:

1. Remove “if.”
2. Invert subject and verb. (“I was” → “was I”)
3. If necessary, change “was” to “were.”

Were I ridiculously rich, I think I’d still work.

Want more examples and practice? Check out the quiz at the end of the post.

3. Inverted Conditionals – Third Conditional (“Had”)

Onward! To the example!

If we’d arrived sooner, we wouldn’t have missed the beginning.

To invert this:

1. Delete “if.”
2. Invert the subject and the auxiliary. (“we had” → “had we”)
Had we arrived sooner, we wouldn’t have missed the beginning.

So we’ve covered how to invert first, second and third conditional sentences.

You might want to ask, “Can we invert mixed conditionals?”

The answer?

We’ll never know!

Just kidding. “Yes.” The answer is “yes.”

4. Inverted Conditionals – Mixed Conditionals

If you want to use a mixed conditional sentence AND invert it (you maniac!), the process is
really quite easy.

Here’s how to do it with this mixed conditional sentence:

If the driver were faster, we would’ve arrived ages ago.

Look at the first part of your mixed conditional:

If the driver were faster, …

Invert it:

Were the driver faster, …

And that’s it — the second part doesn’t change.

It makes no difference whether you want to mix the second conditional with the third:

If the driver were faster, we would’ve arrived ages ago.

Were the driver faster, we would’ve arrived ages ago.

Or the third with the second:

If we’d got just one more signature, we’d be on target now.

Had we got just one more signature, we’d be on target now.

5. Inverted Conditionals – Negative

Finally, let’s take a look at negative inverted conditionals.

There’s one simple rule here:

Add “not” after the subject.

First conditional:

Should Batman come, we’ll escape!

Should Batman not come, we’re in big trouble. But don’t worry, he always comes.

Second conditional:

Were Tom a smart person, he’d invest all his money in Cobra Industries.

Were Anna not a smart person, she’d give all her money to Shady Nick.

Third conditional:

Had they told us about the dolphin, we wouldn’t have come.

Had Anna not voted, the dolphin would have won.