Unreal Conditionals

Unreal conditionals as its name says, are referring to imaginary situations, the IF clause introduces the imaginary condition or event and the MAIN clause express the imaginary result.

Here, the past or past continuous does not indicate past time, it indicates that the situation is unreal, you can use (would, could, would be able to or might) to indicate and unreal result.

Would, express more certainty then could or might about the imaginary results.

The unreal conditionals are used to express:

Advice and Opinions

Most of the time the unreal conditionals begins with “If I were you…” as an indirect way of giving and advice.

E.g.

            If I were you, I’d speak to the teacher.

Asking permission

Unreal conditionals with would you mind, would it bother you, or would it be OK can use to ask for permission.

E.g.

            Would you mind if I opened the window?

NOTE: Remember that you can use modals in both cases.