Third Conditional with "Once Upon a Time"

This video is a little bit repetitive, but it is another example how Past Unreal Conditionals are used in the real life.

The movie: The curious case of Benjamin Button

In this short video we can watch some examples of Past Unreal Conditional.

Past Unreal Conditional grammar video

Let's see a short video explaining grammatically the Past Unreal Conditional.

Examples Past unreal Conditionals

Let’s see some examples:

1. If I had gone to the beach, I would have tanned.
2. If he had kicked the ball stronger, he could have scored a unbelievable goal.
3. If you had been more disciplined, you might have enrolled in the army.

We can make the same sentences with the following contractions, the meaning will be the same and these are grammatically correct, let’s see:

1. If I’d gone to the beach, I would’ve tanned.
2. If he’d kicked the ball stronger, he could’ve scored an unbelievable goal.
3. If you’d been more disciplined, you might’ve enrolled in the army.

It is important to mention that after the IF Clause we must put a comma to separate both clauses, it is due to that between the IF Clause and the MAIN Clause we must make a little pause, in this way, the sentence has sense.

Past Unreal Conditionals

Grammatically, the Past Unreal Conditionals have two important elements: the IF Clause and the MAIN Clause. 

IF Clause + Main Clause = Past Unreal Conditional = Third Conditional.

The IF Clause is formed by: IF and a sentence in Past Perfect.

IF Clause + Past Perfect = IF Clause

The Main Clause  is formed by: Would have / Could have / Might have and a Past Participle.

Would have + Past Participle = Main Clause.
Could have + Past Participle = Main Clause.
Might have + Past Participle = Main Clause.

Past Unreal Conditionals: Overview

The past tense is sometimes used to refer to an unreal situation, although the verb tense is in the past, we are talking about something that did not happen.