Mastering Inverted Conditionals in English Grammar

First Conditional and Inversion

We use the first conditional to talk about future situations we believe are possible.

• Marker pens are in the cupboard if you ever need one.
• If a customer wishes to cancel their booking, they should notify us within seven days.

Inverting First Conditionals

To invert first conditional sentences, we replace if with the auxiliary verb should and change the verb into the infinitive. This makes the situation seem a little less likely and is often used to make a polite request or offer.

• Marker pens are in the cupboard should you ever need one.
• Should a customer wish to cancel their booking, they should notify us within seven days.

Second Conditional and Inversion

We use the second conditional to talk about situations that we consider unlikely or impossible in reality.

• How would the environment be affected if everyone reduced their meat consumption?
• If the Sun disappeared, Earth would no longer be able to support life.

Inverting Second Conditionals

To invert second conditional sentences, we replace if with were and change the verb form to to + infinitive.

• How would the environment be affected were everyone to reduce their meat consumption?
• Were the Sun to disappear, Earth would no longer be able to support life. (We just replace the existing form of be with were, and invert the subject and verb).

• If California were a country, it would be one of the world's largest economies.
• Were California a country, it would be one of the world's largest economies.

Third Conditional and Inversion

The third conditional is used to imagine a change in a past situation and how things would have been different in the past as a result.

• If we had lost that match, it would've been a disaster.
• We would have fixed that problem by now if we'd known about it earlier.

Inverting Third Conditionals

To invert third conditional sentences, we remove if and invert the subject and the auxiliary verb had.

• Had we lost that match, it would've been a disaster.
• We would have fixed that problem by now had we known about it earlier.

Negative Inverted Conditionals

To make negative inverted conditionals, we put not after the subject.

• Should you not consent to sharing this information, you may inform our company at any time. (If you don't consent...)
• Were I not good at maths, I'd find this homework very challenging. (If I wasn't good at maths...)
• Had I not been busy this morning, I would have attended the meeting. (If I hadn't been busy...)