Universite d’antananarivo ecole normale superieure

1.1.2.1- Conditional type zero

In a zero-type conditional sentence the verbs in both the if clause and the main clause are in the PRESENT SIMPLE tense.
Eg: (1) Water freezes if it snows.

(2) If you heat ice, it turns into water.

 If + S + PRESENT SIMPLE, S + PRESENT SIMPLE
This kind is the easiest and the simplest conditional sentence. It makes general statement. The proposition is always true and unchanging. In other words, conditional type zero expresses facts and general truths which are not bounded in time. That is why it is called “generic factual conditional” in some terminologies. Because of its unchanging truth value, it is possible to substitute “when” or “whenever” for “if” and the sentence still expresses more or less the same idea. It is the most frequent conditional sentence type in English, especially in scientific writing since the sciences are often concerned with such absolute relationships. As such, sentence (1) means “Water freezes when (whenever) it snows”, and sentence (2) means “Whenever (when) you heat ice, it turns into water”. However, it is worth mentioning that this type of conditional sentence is not mentioned by the Malagasy syllabus. Therefore, teachers have a choice whether to teach it or not.