if

The word “if” has a strong affect on a sentence. Use “if” to  consider what might or might not happen. This is also an essential word for making conditional sentences.  

  • Roger doesn’t know if he can go. 
  • Do you know what would happen if I mix these two things together? 
  • It’ll be too dangerous if we travel in the dark. 
  • Beatrice doesn’t know if she will stay or go. 
  • If the house costs too much, we won’t be able to afford it. 

if 

a. if = a possible situation

Some situations are dependent on a variety of possibilities. That’s when you need to use “if.” 

  • If it rains today, we will need to bring an umbrella. 
  • I’m not sure if this old phone still works. 
  • If we leave early, we might be able to get good seats at the game. 
  • Don’t buy any lettuce at the store if it looks old and wilted. 
  • Raya doesn’t know if she has to work next week. 
  • If I had known the beans were bad, I wouldn’t have planted them. (This is a past conditional sentence. You’ll learn about conditional sentences in Section B.) 

a. if = a possible situation

Young woman with hand near face in green foliage
  • Raya doesn’t know if she has to work next week. 
  • If she doesn’t get enough hours at work, she will have to to look for a different job. 
  • If you know of a good company that is hiring new employees, you should tell Raya about it.  

b. using "if" in conditional sentences

There are four main types of conditional sentences for present, past, and future situations. Notice how the verb changes in each situation. I will cover conditional sentences in a future lesson. 

future situations: future conditional / first conditional 

  •  You’ll be hungry later if you don’t eat breakfast now. 

present situations: present conditional / second conditional 

  •  You would be hungry if you didn’t eat breakfast. 

past situations: past conditional / third conditional 

  •  You would have been hungry if you hadn’t eaten breakfast earlier. 

universal truth: present conditional / zero conditional 

  • You become hungry if you don’t eat breakfast. 
  •  If you mix red and blue, you get purple. 
  • If you believe something is wrong, tell me. 

b. using "if" in conditional sentences

red cook pot
  •  If you leave something in the oven for too long, it will burn. 
  • If you leave something in the oven for too long, it burns. (These sentences are considering a possible situation in the future or at any time.) 
a person in a red dress holding an umbrella
  • If she didn’t have an umbrella she would get wet. 
  • If she hadn’t brought an umbrella, she would have gotten wet. 

(These are present and past conditional sentences.)

 

c. even if / only if

The phrase “even if” is used when a condition is not important or doesn’t matter for the result. 

  • We’re going to the beach tomorrow even if it rains. 
  • Even if it costs a lot of money, we still need to find a place to live. 
  • Roger is determined to be successful even if it means he’ll have to sacrifice a lot of time spent with his family. 

Use “only if” when a condition is essential or absolutely important. 

  • I’ll go watch the band perform only if there’s no cover charge. (It has to be free.) 
  • Only if you arrive early will you be able to find a good seat in the classroom.  (The class is very popular and there are a lot of people expected to show up.) 
  • Our supervisor will let us leave work early tonight only if we get all of our work finished. 

c. even if / only if

First published on December 6, 2025. 

 

You can click here to go to the English Vocabulary page.