Lesson 2e - Conditionals - English Grammar (과거의 일에 대한 가정)

 

POINTS TO STUDY

 

• Learn about the unreal conditionals in the past
• If I hadn’t met her then, I would have been still a single.
  = Since I met her then, I am not a single now….!
  
  오늘은 과거에 벌어진 일에 대한 가정법 표현에 대해 알아 봅니다.  문법으로 분석 이해하기 보다는 표현 위주의 공부를 하면서 3가지 다른 용법의 예문을 몸에 익힌다는 생각으로 들어 보시면 헷갈리지 않으시리라 믿습니다. 

VIDEO

 

 

SCRIPT, LISTENING TIPS, & GRAMMAR

Unreal conditionals in the past

 

In this lesson we’re going to talk about unreal conditionals in the past.  I’d like to tell you little bit about my past, so let’s try this activity.  I’ll show you different flags of different countries.  When I show you the flag you tell me the country, and then I’ll tell you something that happen to me or something that I did in that country.  OK?  So let’s start.

 

Here’s the first flag.  I think you know that this is the Japanese flag, the flag of Japan.  Now, in college I studied Japanese for two years.  I have been to Japan once before, but for very short time.  After college, I wanted to go there and teach English. I applied to a program, and then they rejected me so I didn’t go.  If I had lived in Japan, I would have learned more Japanese. 

 

This is the Russian flag, the flag of Russia. So I didn’t go to Japan, I went to Russia.  I have been there three times before and on the fourth time was when I finished my graduate work.  If I hadn’t gone back to Russia, I wouldn’t have met my husband, so I’m glad I went back to Russia.  OK, let’s try third.

 

Do you know this one?  This is the flag of Belgium, the Belgium flag.  I’m not the only one who married outside of my culture.  My friend married with a Belgian.  If my friend hadn’t married a Belgian, I wouldn’t have visited Brussels.  Here’s one more.

 

Do you know this one?  This is the flag of the Philippines, the Filipino flag.  My father’s actually from Philippines, and I visited there when I was a little girl and I met all my relatives, but I didn’t speak the Tagalog, and that’s shame because I couldn’t speak much with my relatives. If I had learned Tagalog, I would have talked more with my relatives.

 

If you’re listening closely, then you heard verb tenses in the two clauses.  Again in our IF statements, we have two parts: there is the if-clause, which states the condition, and the result clause.  In the if-clause, I was using the past perfect: If I had lived in Japan, If I hadn’t gone to Russia, If my friend hadn’t married a Belgian, If I had learned Tagalog, if-clause uses the past perfect in this unreal conditionals in the past.  The result clause had would have + the past participle. We can also switch the clauses around and the meaning doesn’t change.  We can also make either clause negative. 

 

It’s important to understand that these unreal conditions in the past are untrue situations.  They talk about past that never happened. So, let’s back up to those examples (that) I originally presented and talk about what is the truth and what is not the truth.  For example, let’s go back to Japan, I said “If I had lived there, I would have learned more Japanese.” Truth? I didn’t live there, truth?, I didn’t learn more Japanese. OK?  Let’s try the other one.  About Russia, “If I hadn’t gone back to Russia, I wouldn’t have met my husband.”  Truth? I did go back to Russia. Truth? I did meet my husband. And Belgium flag? Remember, I told you that If my friend hadn’t married a Belgian, I wouldn’t have visited Brussels. Truth? My friend married a Belgian, and truth, I did visit Brussels. And the last one, I talked about the Philippines and I said that “If I had learned Tagalog, I would have talked to more to my relatives.”  Truth? I didn’t learn Tagalog, truth, I didn’t talk much with my relatives. So let’s continue our activity. I’ll show you three more flags, this time when I tell you statement, I want you to tell me what the truth is. All right?

 

This is British flag, flag of England.  If my childhood home had been in Buckingham palace, I would have had few friends, but a lot of room to play. So what’s the truth?  [see screen and listen Jennifer] I’m happy to say ahead I have plenty of friends. Here’s the next one.  This is the flag of the Bahamas, the Bahamian flag.  Immediately after college, I wanted a break from academics.  So I worked in the cruise line industry.  I had seen an ad on a bulletin board and I responded to the ad and I ended up on the cruise ship in the Bahamas, and that was wonderful few months.  I really enjoyed that time.  If I hadn’t seen that ad, I wouldn’t have spent time in the Bahamas.  So what’s the truth?  [see screen and listen Jennifer] So here’s the third flag.  This is the flag of the Mexico, Mexican flag.  I took a trip to Mexico earlier this year and I knew some basic words and phrases, but I didn’t know any Spanish.  If I had known Spanish, I would have had more conversation with Mexicans. (말과는 달리 learned을 스크린에 사용함).  So what’s the truth?  [see screen and listen Jennifer]

 

Ok, so I hope you understand now that when we’re using these unreal conditionals, we’re talking about the past that never happened.  They are untrue statements.  Let’s list reasons why we use the unreal conditionals in the past.  We might as I said we’re talking about untrue situation, and that’s because we want to emphasize a connection between events.  For example, at the Bahamas, I said, if I hadn’t seen the ad, I wouldn’t have spent time in the Bahamas.  There is a connection: I saw the ad, I got the job in the Bahamas.  We might also be using these unreal conditionals to talk about an unreal situation, meaning an imaginary situation.  We’d like to dream a little and think about how things could have been.  For example, about England I said “If my childhood home had been in Buckingham palace,” so what I’m trying to do is imagine what my childhood could have been like if had lived in Buckingham palace.  A third reason why we might use these unreal conditionals is to express a regret.  For example, if I had known more Spanish, I would have had more conversation with Mexicans. That’s a regret of mine. 

 

So up to now, we’ve talked about using only past perfect in the if-clause, we can also make the if-clause with progressive, so let’s share the example. Do you remember this flag?  The flag of Russia, and I told you that if I hadn’t gone to Russia, I wouldn’t have met my husband.  Here’s a detail about the day that we’ve met. It was raining and we had to walk from metro station to an office.  So we shared an umbrella and it was a very nice walk.  If it hadn’t been raining, we wouldn’t have shared a very pleasant walk under the same umbrella.  That’s the end of part 1.  Be sure to join me for the second half of this lesson an / unreal conditionals in the past.      

 

• “꽃보다 남자”를 소재로 여기서 소개된 3가지 경우에 해당하는 각자의 예문을 만들어 보세요…. 기억이 상당히 오래 갈것입니다… J

 

 

TODAY’S PRONUNCIATION

 

Daily Pronunciation #22 - English Lesson – VEHEMENT

 

 

PREVIEW FOR TOMORROW

 

내일은 오늘에 이어 계속 Unreal conditionals in the past 에 대해서 알아 봅니다. 좀더 자세한 설명이 이어집니다…