Introduzione

Usiamo il third conditional per descrivere situazioni irreali nel passato e i risultati immaginati. Sia la situazione che il risultato esistono nel passato; la situazione non si è verificata quindi il risultato è impossibile:

    If I had woken up earlier, I wouldn’t have missed the train.     

• "If I had woken up earlier" è la situazione irreale.
• "I wouldn’t have missed the train" è il risultato immaginato.

    La situazione e il risultato reali: non mi sono svegliato più presto quindi ho perso il treno.

Esempi:

• If she hadn't got the job, she would have been very disappointed.
  La situazione e il risultato reali: ha avuto il lavoro quindi non è stata delusa.
   
• If they had known about the problems with the trains, they would have driven.
  La situazione e il risultato reali: non sapevano dei problemi con i treni quindi non hanno guidato.
   
• Would I have got sick if I hadn’t eaten the fish?
  La situazione e il risultato reali: ho mangiato il pesce. È per quello che sono stato male?

Forma

Formiamo il third conditional con una subordinata ipotetica e una proposizione principale:

• Subordinata ipotetica: "if" + past perfect
• Proposizione principale: "would have" + participio passato

L'ordine delle frasi non importa: il significato è lo stesso.

Se mettiamo la subordinata ipotetica prima della proposizione principale, usiamo una virgola:

Subordinata ipotetica	Proposizione principale
"If" + past perfect + virgola	"would have" + participio passato
If I’d woken up earlier,	I wouldn’t have missed the train.
If she hadn’t got the job,	she would have been very disappointed.
If they had known about the problems with the trains,	they would have driven instead.
If I hadn’t eaten the fish,	would I have got sick?

Non usiamo una virgola se mettiamo la proposizione principale prima della subordinata ipotetica:

Proposizione principale	Subordinata ipotetica
"would have" + participio passato	"if" + past perfect
I wouldn’t have missed the train	if I had woken up earlier.
She would have been very disappointed	if she hadn’t got the job.
They would have driven	if they had known about the problems with the trains.
Would I have got sick	if I hadn’t eaten the fish?

• Possiamo contrarre il pronome soggetto e "would": "I’d" / "you’d" / "we’d" / "they’d" / "she’d" / "he’d" / "it’d"
   
• Possiamo contrarre "would" e "have": would’ve
   
• Possiamo usare il past perfect continuous nella subordinata ipotetica:
  If I’d been looking more carefully, I would have noticed the mistake.
  Non ho notato l'errore perchè non stavo guardando abbastanza attentamente.

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Pratica

.

1)

They’d have passed their exams if they    harder. (study)

 

2)

If he had followed the directions, he    on time. (arrive)

 

3)

Would you have guessed the ending of the film if you    the book. (not read)

 

4)

Sarah would    to Paris if she’d had enough time. (go)

 

Please submit the missing answers shown in red
 

Submit

Ulteriore pratica

Completa le frasi per formare il third conditional scegliendo la risposta corretta tra a, b, c o d:
.

1)

If he had known it was her birthday, he would ____ her a present.
 

have bought

have buy

had bought

had buy

 

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2)

They wouldn’t have gone if they ____ it would be so crowded.
 

'd know

had knows

'd knew

had known

 

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3)

Would you ____ to the conference if the company hadn’t paid for the tickets?
 

have gone

had gone

had went

have went

 

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4)

I would ____ meat if I had known that you are vegetarian.
 

n't have cook

not had cook

not had cooked

n't have cooked

 

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5)

If I ____ the menu, I wouldn’t have gone to the restaurant.
 

had saw

have seen

have saw

had seen

 

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6)

If they ____ a map, would they have got lost?
 

have buy

had buy

have bought

had bought

 

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Please submit the missing answers shown in red
 

Submit

Uso di "could", "might"

Possiamo usare "could" o "might" invece di "would" nella proposizione principale del third conditional.

• If they had known about the problems with the trains, they would have driven.
  La proposizione principale con "would" descrive un certo risultato.
   
• If they had known about the problems with the trains, they could have driven.
  La proposizione principale con "could" descrive un possibile risultato come l'abilità di fare qualcosa.
   
• If they had known about the problems with the trains, they might have driven.
  La proposizione principale con "might" descrive un possibile risultato.