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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