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  • - If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,

  • my portfolio today would be worth...

  • Many of you watching this will know about the zero,

  • the first, the second, and the third conditional.

  • But did you also know that there

  • are mixed conditionals, too?

  • Hello, everybody this is Jack from tofluency.com

  • and in this English lesson we're going to look

  • at mixed conditionals.

  • We're going to look at lots of examples

  • so that you can understand how and when to use them.

  • But first let's talk about the conditionals

  • that you probably already know.

  • We're going to do this fairly quickly.

  • If you want a full tutorial on conditionals

  • then check out the description.

  • The first one, the zero, is this.

  • I get tired when I eat too much.

  • I get tired when I eat too much.

  • This is so true.

  • If I have a lot to eat I feel really tired.

  • Now the zero conditional is used

  • to talk about things in general.

  • Here is an example of the first conditional now.

  • If it rains, we won't go to the party.

  • The party is outside.

  • The party is real.

  • It is happening in the future.

  • But if it rains we won't go,

  • because we don't want to get wet.

  • So the fist conditional is used

  • for real situations in the future.

  • Let's now talk about hypothetical situations

  • using the second and the third conditional.

  • An example of the second conditional is this.

  • I would do it if I had more time.

  • I would do it if I had more time.

  • So I don't have more time, therefore,

  • I'm not going to do it.

  • But in a hypothetical situation,

  • I would do it if I had more time.

  • And the third conditional is similar to the second,

  • but we're talking about hypothetical situations

  • in the past.

  • I would have done it if I had more time.

  • I would have done it if I had more time.

  • I didn't have time in the past,

  • therefore, I didn't do it.

  • So now we know the zero, first, second,

  • and third conditionals.

  • Let's now talk about mixed conditionals.

  • And to help me do that, here is a story.

  • In 2011, when my wife and I moved to Asheville

  • and I started teaching online

  • I had a little bit of money to invest,

  • and I wanted to make my first investment.

  • I had never invested in stocks or anything else before.

  • So I started doing a little bit of research.

  • I created a short list of three main options.

  • The stock market, gold, and Bitcoin.

  • If you don't know what Bitcoin is, it is this peer-to-peer

  • digital currency which has gained

  • a lot of attention recently.

  • And I remember being on certain websites

  • researching it and trying to figure out

  • exactly what this thing is.

  • And I was almost ready to invest.

  • But what put me off and what stopped me

  • from doing it was that it just sounded

  • so complicated.

  • The website I was on talked about cold and hot wallets,

  • online storage, the blockchain in general.

  • So, I didn't get any and I invested

  • in something else, instead.

  • Now here is the important part.

  • If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,

  • my portfolio today would be worth

  • 1.5 million dollars.

  • Yeah.

  • But let's not talk about regrets

  • and think about the money that I could have now.

  • Instead, let's focus on the mixed conditional.

  • Look at that sentence again.

  • If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011

  • my portfolio would be worth 1.5 million dollars today.

  • What we're doing here is we're talking about

  • a past hypothetical event,

  • and how that relates

  • to a present hypothetical event.

  • We use this when we want to talk about

  • how something different in the past

  • would effect the present today.

  • Here is another example.

  • If I hadn't met my wife in Ecuador,

  • I wouldn't be living in America now.

  • So, I met my wife in Ecuador in 2007.

  • She is American and therefore we decided

  • to move to America.

  • But if I hadn't met my wife in Ecuador,

  • I wouldn't be living in America today.

  • Again, we're talking about how

  • a hypothetical situation in the past

  • would effect the present.

  • And one more example.

  • If he had listened during his English class,

  • he would have a higher level now.

  • If he had listened during his English class,

  • he would have a higher level now.

  • So this is quite advanced

  • and if you want to go back and listen

  • to those examples again,

  • I recommend you do so.

  • I'll also leave them in the description

  • and as the pinned comment.

  • Let's now look at another type of mixed conditional.

  • It's on your screen now.

  • If I weren't going to that wedding tomorrow,

  • I would have gone out last night.

  • If I weren't going to that wedding tomorrow,

  • I would have gone out last night.

  • What do you see here?

  • Well, the first clause talks about the future,

  • and the second clause talks about the past.

  • So, a hypothetical situation in the future

  • can effect a hypothetical outcome in the past.

  • Because I'm going to that wedding tomorrow,

  • I decided not to go out last night.

  • But, if I weren't going to that wedding tomorrow,

  • I would have gone out last night.

  • There are other types of mixed conditionals

  • which I'll talk about in a future video.

  • But here is one last piece of advice.

  • Don't force these mixed conditionals in conversations.

  • What I mean is, don't feel like you should use them

  • because they are advanced English.

  • Instead, know that they are used

  • for very specific situations.

  • Okay, now it is your turn.

  • Leave some examples of conditionals below.

  • Feel free to do this for zero, first, second,

  • third, or any mixed conditional.

  • But I just want you to practice a little bit.

  • Oh and here is one last example.

  • If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,

  • I would have sold it a long time ago.

  • Thank you for watching.

  • (upbeat music)

- If I had bought Bitcoin in 2011,

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