Universite d’antananarivo ecole normale superieure

Table 3: Lesson on "Conditional tenses"

	Form		Time	Example	Function
Type 0 Type 1	If clause If+Present If+Present	Main clause Present Simple future	Present Future	When we talk about something which is always true. We talk about a real and possible situation that will happen if a specific condition is met.	If you don’t water plants, they die. If it rains, I’ll stay home.

Type 2 Type 3

If+ Simple past If+Past perfect

Would+V Would have+ Past participle

Present/ Future Past

We talk about unreal situations that probably won’t happen (unless a specific condition were met) We talk about something that didn’t happen in the past/ a past regret that would have happened if a specific condition had been met.

I would cure people if I were a doctor. I would have had a good mark if I had worked more seriously.

When the students finished copying this chart in their lesson books, the teacher started the explanation about clause ordering and what each clause means. Then, he read the chart type by type and checked the students’ understanding by asking questions such as “Do you agree with me?” after he had read the examples for each type. Only few students replied “Yes” when the teacher asked “Is that clear?” or “Are you sure?” The explanation lasted only five minutes, and after that, the teacher gave two different exercises (Appendix II, p. vi and vii).

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