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How do you form the third conditional tense in English?

The third conditional requires us to construct a sentence in\xa0two parts.

We make the third conditional by using\xa0\u2018if,\u2019\xa0the\xa0past perfect form of the verb\xa0in the\xa0first part\xa0of the sentence and then\xa0\u2018would have\u2019\xa0and the\xa0past participle\xa0the\xa0second part\xa0of the sentence:

• if + past perfect, \u2026would + have + past participle

It talks about the past. It\u2019s used to describe a situation that didn\u2019t happen, and to imagine the result of this situation.

• If he\xa0had studied, he\xa0would have passed\xa0the exam (but, really we know he didn\u2019t study and therefore he didn\u2019t pass)
• If I\xa0hadn\u2019t spent\xa0so much money in my 20\u2019s, I\xa0wouldn\u2019t have been\xa0poor in my 30\u2019s (but I did spend a lot, and so I did become poor).
• If we\xa0had taken\xa0the subway, we\xa0wouldn\u2019t have missed\xa0the plane (but we did not take the subway, and we did miss the plane)
• I\xa0wouldn\u2019t have been\xa0tired if I\xa0had gone\xa0to bed earlier (but I was tired because I did not go to bed earlier)
• I\xa0would have become\xa0a lawyer if I\xa0had followed\xa0my parents\u2019 wishes (but I did not become a lawyer and did not follow my parents\u2019 wishes)
• He\xa0would not have felt\xa0sick if he\xa0had not eaten\xa0the questionable street food (but he did eat the questionable street food and so he felt sick)

I hope that these examples help. If you have questions, comments, or would like to try your own examples, leave a comment on the blog post at https://gonaturalenglish.com/third-conditional