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Second Conditionals

taceev

Senior Member
Turkish
I always come across this kind of sentences. What kind of conditonal should I use when I want to talk about the "possible result of an imagined situation in the past". I suppose, I should use second conditional but this usage of second conditionals is never mentioed at grammar books. Am I right about it ?


1-What if she did find a life at that convent ? (The subject doesn't know if she found a life at that convent or not . This action of "finding a life" happened or didn't happen in the past so the subject is just curious about it right now . Because the subject is investigating a crime right now )

2-What if they wanted to protect her ? (The subject doesn't know if they wanted to protect her or not in the past. The subject is just curious about it right now . Because the subject is investigating a crime right now. )
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Hello.

Hello, I don't understand your question very well but I would use "I wonder if. .. .."
Hello, These two examples I gave are from a tv series. I gave them and then I described the situation in which the character (from the tv series) said these sentences.
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Neither of the sentences you quote are second conditionals (they are quite simply hypothetical questions), so I'm afraid I don't understand your question.

In hypothetical sentences when we use "if + past simple " this form refers to the present time. But in my examples(they are hypothetical) "if + past simple" form refers to a past time and again we used "past simple form" . This is what confuse me.

I found this at Cambridge dictionary : "When we are less certain, we use suppose, supposing and what if + past form to talk about future possibility". But my examples are not about future possibility. In my examples the subject is questioning what might have happened or not in the past.
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Is this a US TV series? Because if as you say these sentences refer to the past and not to the present in BE I would use the past perfect:

1-What if she did find had found a life at that convent ?
2-What if they had wanted to protect her ?
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Is this a US TV series? Because if as you say these sentences refer to the past and not to the present in BE I would use the present perfect:

1-What if she did find had found a life at that convent ?
2-What if they had wanted to protect her ?

Yep this is a US TV series. Actually the thing confusing me is that almost never they use "past perfect" when they refer to past in hypothetical sentences. They use "if+past simple" even though it refers to a past time.
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Yep this is a US TV series. Actually the thing confuse me is that almost never they use "past perfect" when they refer to past in hypothetical sentences. They use "if+past simple" even though it refers to a past time.
Many (but not all) US speakers use the perfect tenses far less then we Brits do.

PS I meant past perfect, not present perfect: I've edited my post.
@london calling

Hi, There is still something bothers me:

When we use this sentence "What if she had found a life at that convent? " , don't I imply she didn't find a life at that convent? It doesn' fit into the context I gave since the man asking this question don't know if she found a life or not.

So here using past simple: " What if she did find a life at that convent? " sounds okay even though it refers to the past possible event not present time or future ?
Not all conditionals fit into the traditionally-taught First/Second/Third categories.

As you say, in a Second Conditional, the past tense doesn't refer to past time: it refers to a hypothetical present or future time.

But it's possible to have conditional sentences where the past tense does refer to past time:
Arthur: Peter was at the party last week.
John: Oh! If Peter was at the party, then he must have met Susan.

Your sentences in post 1 are similar to John's sentence in that conversation.
Not all conditionals fit into the traditionally-taught First/Second/Third
Thank you. 👁 Smile :)
Do you agree with me on this issue : "When we use this sentence "What if she had found a life at that convent? " , don't I imply she didn't find a life at that convent? It doesn' fit into the context I gave."
Well, it would be possible to think of a situation in which What if she had found a life at that convent? would equate to:
Let's assume she had found find a life in the convent before another event happened in the past. What would the consequences be?​

In other words, it would be possible to think of a situation in which What if she had found a life at that convent? would not be a hypothetical Third Conditional.
@Loob

I think I understand your point but in the given context the man don't care about events in the past but "finding a life". So in that context, third conditional doen't work I suppose?
Well, given your description of the situation in post 1, the past simple What if she did find...? is the option I would have expected.

I don't know why london calling preferred What if she had found...?
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