If I had stayed out a bit longer this evening, I would have gotten soaked.

Last week, I was talking about conditional sentences. We're not quite finished yet. First, you might want to review what I wrote last week:

http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-you-dont-understand-conditional.html
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-you-dont-get-to-station-before-last.html
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-you-put-hot-food-in-fridge-you-risk.html
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-i-dont-hang-this-laundry-tonight-it.html
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/if-i-were-empress-police-would-stop.html

Today we've got to talk about third conditional. The definitions below are from 英辞郎 on the web and Edict.

In my last post, I asked you:

If I had been thinking, I would have taken a picture. <- which type of conditional sentence is this?

The answer is third conditional! Like second conditional, it's used to talk about hypothetical situations, too. The difference is that these hypothetical situations are past hypothetical situations.

The grammar for third conditional is usually like this:

If you hadn't found my blog, <- "if" clause, past perfect tense
you wouldn't have been able to read my posts about conditional sentences last week. <- main clause, "would" + present perfect tense

You can use third conditional to talk about an alternate past history:

If the car had been invented by a Japanese inventor, would Tokyo have turned out like Detroit today?
invent = 開発する? (is this right in this case?)
I wonder how things would have been different if Kennedy hadn't been assassinated.
assassinate 【他動】～を暗殺｛あんさつ｝する、傷つける

You can use third conditional to talk about your regrets:

If I had studied Chinese characters harder in Taiwan, I would have had an easier time when I came to Japan.
If Bush hadn't been elected president, maybe there wouldn't have been a war in Iraq.
選ばれる be elected

You can use third conditional to talk about lucky situations:

If I hadn't come to Japan, maybe I wouldn't have met you.
If you hadn't studied English before, you wouldn't have been able to read this sentence. <- but you just did, and that's lucky for me and you, both!

Around 8:30 pm, I walked outside to get my bicycle and ride home. I noticed that the ground was wet, but it wasn't raining at that time. I thought about going to Bic Camera. That's because I want to get some things like a new wireless internet card for my laptop and some new cables for my audio mixer. However, my stomach was growling, and I decided to go home directly instead to eat.

• My stomach's growling. おなかがなっている。

I arrived at my building, parked my bike, and took the elevator up to my apartment. When I got in the apartment and looked out the window, the scene had changed a lot! It was pouring!

• in pouring rain 土砂降りの［降りしきる］雨の中で

If I had gone to Bic Camera, I would have gotten soaked in the rain. I had been thinking about this post all day. "What example am I going to use?" I had been thinking. I was going to say "if I hadn't taken my rain suit today, it would have rained cats and dogs." That could still be true. I took the rain suit, and of course, it didn't start raining until I got home. Still, I'm glad I didn't have to ride my bicycle in the rain today!

If I had finished our study of conditional sentences today, we wouldn't be studying conditional sentences tomorrow. <- what kind of conditional sentence is this?

However, we're not done. Tomorrow, we'll look at some mistakes with conditional sentences. Take care!