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Unreal past situations and their imagined consequences.
Why you specifically
Câu điều kiện loại 3 dùng để nói về một tình huống không có thật trong quá khứ và kết quả tưởng tượng của nó trong quá khứ. Nghĩa là: một việc đã không xảy ra, và ta tưởng tượng nếu nó đã xảy ra thì kết quả sẽ thế nào. Cấu trúc thường là If + had + V3, rồi would have + V3: If I had known, I would have helped. Đây là điểm rất dễ nhầm với câu điều kiện loại 2. Câu điều kiện loại 2 dùng cho tình huống không có thật ở hiện tại hoặc tương lai, với cấu trúc If + quá khứ đơn, would + V: If I knew, I would help. Vì vậy, loại 3 luôn mang ý nghĩa quá khứ không có thật, và cả mệnh đề if lẫn mệnh đề chính đều hướng về quá khứ. Người học tiếng Việt thường dễ bỏ had trong mệnh đề if, hoặc dùng would trong mệnh đề if, nhưng cách đó sai trong tiếng Anh chuẩn. Hãy nhớ: quá khứ không có thật thì dùng had + V3 ở vế if, và would have + V3 ở vế kết quả.
The rule
The third conditional talks about an unreal past situation and an imagined past result. It is used when something did not happen in the past, and we imagine a different result. The usual pattern is if + past perfect in the if-clause, and would have + past participle in the main clause: If I had known, I would have helped. This contrasts with the second conditional, which talks about unreal present or future situations. Second conditional uses if + past simple and would + base verb: If I knew, I would help. So in the third conditional, both the condition and the result are in the past form, because we are imagining a different past.
Both correct
Every sentence here is correct English. Only the meaning changes.
If I had known about the traffic, I would have left earlier.
Unreal past condition and unreal past result.
If I knew about the traffic, I would leave earlier.
Unreal present or future condition and result.
The trap
If I studied harder, I would pass the exam.
If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam.
The third conditional talks about an unreal past situation and its unreal past result. We use had + past participle in the if-clause, and would have + past participle in the result clause.
If she would have left earlier, she would have caught the train.
If she had left earlier, she would have caught the train.
In the third conditional, the if-clause refers to a past situation that did not happen. We do not use would in the if-clause.
He would call you if he had known your number.
He would have called you if he had known your number.
The result clause uses would have + past participle, not would + base verb, when we are talking about an unreal past result.
If we would be more careful, we would not make that mistake.
If we had been more careful, we would not have made that mistake.
The third conditional needs had + past participle in the if-clause. The form would not have made shows an unreal past result.
Prove it
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