The Third Conditional

We use the third conditional to talk about a situation in the past which would have happened if something else had happened.

It is the past conditional.

If I had studied harder for my exam, I would have passed.
If I hadn’t passed my driving test they wouldn’t have given me the job.

Look at the construction:

If	subject	had	past participle	subject	would	have	past participle
If	I	had	had a lot of money last year,	I	would	have	gone to Australia.
If	you	had	told me it was your birthday	I	would	have	baked a cake.
If	I	hadn’t	been tired last night,	I	would	have	played squash.

Look at the question form:

Question word	auxiliary	subject	have + past participle	if + subject + had + past participle
What	would	you	have done	if you hadn’t gone to the cinema last night?
	Would	you	have come	if you hadn’t argued with her?
Where	would	you	have gone	if you hadn’t had to work last summer?

Note: When we use the third conditional everything has to be in the past – both the part of the and the would clause. If we want to talk about a hypothetical situation in the past and the results now we have to use a mixed conditional.