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Coincidence Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Mixed conditionals - the first and second conditional

Hello,
Could you help me please with the sentences below?
Are these sentences fully correct?

We will go for a walk if the weather was nice tomorrow.

(the chances of having nice weather are very low but if the weather were nice, our plans are certain) or we want to reassure somebody:
Ok, ok ...we will go for a walk if the weather was nice tomorrow.

If Jennifer had a lot of money (in the future), she will buy a bigger flat.

(the odds in favour of having a lot of money in the future are very low, but we know Jennifer very well and know that she is determined to buy a bigger flat).

Thank you in advance for your help Emotion: smile
Kind regards.
  

Top answer

No. You can't use the logic of odds and chance to justify anything about these. You can't use a past tense in the if -clause and then use 'will'.

— CalifJim

  • No.
  • You can't use the logic of odds and chance to justify anything about these.
  • You can't use a past tense in the if -clause and then use 'will'.
  • You'll have to change the past to the present.
  • We will go for a walk if the weather is nice tomorrow.
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6 Answers
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No. You can't use the logic of odds and chance to justify anything about these. You can't use a past tense in the if-clause and then use 'will'. You'll have to change the past to the present.

We will go for a walk if the weather is nice tomorrow.
If Jennifer has a lot of money, she
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Ok, thank you for your help.

I thought we could mix these types of conditionals... I know that mixed conditionals are also very common
(e.g. If she were more ambitious, she would have won that contest - the second and the third conditional).

Could you tell me if the sentence below is correct? I think it is ok...:

If I found your glasses, I will let you know.
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CoincidenceCould you tell me if the sentence below is correct? I think it is ok...:If I found your glasses, I will let you know.
I see I may have to repeat this several times. This is from a previous post:

You can't use a past tense in the if-clause and then use 'will'. You'll have to change the past to the present
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Ok, I see now...it never works to mix the second and the first conditional.
It is difficult, though, for a non-native speaker to understand why such a combination is not correct in English as other types of mixed conditionals (for example the second and the third) are completely understandable and the logic standing behind them is the same in my language.
Thank you for your helpful posts.
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Coincidenceand the logic standing behind them is the same in my language.
Yes, that's often a problem. Different languages have different "grammatical machinery".
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Yes...but fortunately we can dispel our doubts here Emotion: smile
Thank you...
Kind regards
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