Second conditional

The second conditional expresses situations that are unreal, hypothetical, or very unlikely in the present or future. It uses the structure: If + past simple, would/could + base form of the verb. Because the situation is imaginary — not a real plan — we use a past tense form in the if-clause even though we are talking about now or the future. The main clause uses 'would' (for decisions/results), 'could' (for ability/possibility), or 'might' (for uncertain possibility). One common special form is 'If I were you…', where 'were' is used for all persons (I/he/she/it) in formal and standard written English, not 'was'. Compare: First conditional (If it rains, I will take an umbrella — real and likely) vs. Second conditional (If it rained, I would take an umbrella — unreal/unlikely now). The comma rule is the same as in the first conditional: use a comma when the if-clause comes first, but NOT when it comes second. For example: If Anar had a bicycle, he would ride to school every day.