Here is a one hour lesson plan about the 3rd conditional. The students listen to the teacher read a story, do some guided discovery exercises, watch a music video, and use the 3rd conditional to talk about it. You can download the STUDENT WORKSHEET HERE:

Teacher Directions 3rd Conditional

Guided Discovery:

Dictate the following story to your students. Direct your students to fill in the blanks in the “if” statements in part A.

The Thief at the Bus Station

One day last week, I was waiting at the bus station when a man came over and asked me directions to the bank. I told him and he said thank you and goodbye. A few minutes later, I realized my purse was missing! The man had stolen it. If I had known he was a thief, I wouldn’t have talked to him. I ran in the direction the man had gone. I ran for about fifteen minutes, but I couldn’t find him. Finally I called the police. When they arrived, they wrote down my information, but they said that probably my purse was gone forever. They told me that if I had called them immediately, then maybe they could have caught the thief. I was so upset. I was angry at the thief, but I was angry at myself too. If I had paid more attention, then this wouldn’t have happened. In the future I’m going to be more careful.

A) Your teacher is going to read you a story. Listen carefully for the “if” statements and try to write the missing words below.

1. If I had known he was a thief, I wouldn’t  have  talked to him.
2. They told me that if I had  called them immediately, then maybe they  could  have  caught the thief. 
3. If I had  paid more attention, then this   wouldn’t  have  happened . 

B) Look at the sentences in A. Use those sentences to write down the formula for this grammar structure.

If + subject + past perfect, subject + would + have + past participle.

C) Answer the questions based on part A and B.

1. What conditional is this? 3rd conditional
2. Does this conditional describe the past, present, or future? past
3. Does it describe a “real past” or “imaginary past”? Imaginary past

*Note: We often use this conditional to describe a regret or to complain about a past event.

D)  Can you finish these sentences using the 3rd conditional?

1. If I hadn’t studied English…
2. If I had woken up late today…
3. If I hadn’t met my best friend…
4. If my teacher hadn’t come to class…
5. If I had skipped breakfast…

E) Watch George Ezra – Blame It on Me (Official Music Video). Write down five conditional sentences to describe how events in the video could have happened differently.

Possible answers:

1. If a bird hadn’t pooped on the man, he wouldn’t have gone to check his reflection in the car window.
2. If he hadn’t gone up to the car, he wouldn’t have gotten shot by the boy with the toy gun.
3. If a dog hadn’t bitten him, he wouldn’t have dropped his guitar.
4. If he hadn’t dropped his guitar, then a police car wouldn’t have run it over.
5. If he hadn’t caught the ball, he wouldn’t have been tackled by the rugby team.

Show your sentences to your partner. Do you have the same sentences or different sentences?

F) Think about a bad day you had. How could it have been different? Write down three conditional sentences to describe what could have changed. Explain your bad day to your partner and your conditional sentences. 

Note for teacher : Make sure that students are aware they will be sharing their answers with others and not to share anything too personal.

E) Were you and your partners’ bad days similar or different? Explain the differences or similarities to the class.

If you enjoyed this lesson, check out a lesson on reported speech grammar here!