Complete the Conditional

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
ESL third conditional game for upper-intermediate B2: gap-fill, guessing, pair work

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar: Gap-fill, Guessing - Pair Work

In this engaging third conditional game, students practice the third conditional by completing and guessing missing verb phrases in sentences. Student A starts by reading the first third conditional sentence to their partner and guessing...

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar: Gap-fill, Guessing - Pair Work In this engaging third conditional game, students practice the third conditional by completing and guessing missing verb phrases in sentences. Student A starts by reading the first third conditional sentence to their partner and guessing the missing verb phrase. Student A has three chances to guess each missing verb phrase. If Student A guesses the exact phrase that Student B has in bold on their worksheet, they score three points, write the missing words in the gaps and move on to the next sentence. If the guess is wrong, they try again for two points and then for one point. This continues until all the third conditional sentences have been guessed. It's then Student B's turn to guess the missing verb phrases in Student A's sentences. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins.
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Guess my Sentence

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
ESL third conditional guessing game for upper-intermediate B2: gap-fill, sentence completion, pair work

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar: Gap-fill, Guessing - Pair Work

In this fun third conditional game, students guess missing if-clauses or result clauses in third conditional sentences. Both students have the same third conditional sentences, but where they have words in bold, their partner has gaps and vice versa...

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar: Gap-fill, Guessing - Pair Work In this fun third conditional game, students guess missing if-clauses or result clauses in third conditional sentences. Both students have the same third conditional sentences, but where they have words in bold, their partner has gaps and vice versa. Student B starts by reading the first sentence and guessing the if-clause or result clause in the gap. Student B has three chances to guess the clause. If Student B guesses the exact words that Student A has in bold on their worksheet, they score three points and write the missing words in the gap. If the guess is wrong, Student B tries again for two points and then for one point. It's then Student A's turn to guess the missing clause in the second sentence, and so on. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins.
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If Things Were Different

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL third conditional activity for upper-intermediate B2: asking and answering questions, writing sentences

ESL Third Conditional Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Writing Sentences

In this free third conditional speaking activity, students find out what happened to their classmates last week and write third conditional sentences about how things could have been different. First...

ESL Third Conditional Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Writing Sentences from Prompts In this free third conditional speaking activity, students find out what happened to their classmates last week and write third conditional sentences about how things could have been different. First, students read their cards and imagine that the situation on the card happened to them last week. Next, students go around the class finding out what happened to their classmates by asking, 'What happened to you last week?' Their classmate then responds, 'Last week, I...' and describes what happened. After listening, the student asks for their card number and then writes a third conditional sentence about how things could have been different next to the corresponding number on their worksheet. When everyone has finished, go through each situation card and elicit possible third conditional sentences from the class.
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If you had...?

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL third conditional activity for upper-intermediate B2: completing, asking and answering, group discussion

ESL Third Conditional Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Completing, Asking and Answering Questions, Discussion, Communicative Practice - Group Work

In this third conditional speaking activity, students ask, answer and discuss what they would have done in hypothetical past situations. In groups, students...

ESL Third Conditional Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Completing, Asking and Answering Questions, Discussion, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this third conditional speaking activity, students ask, answer and discuss what they would have done in hypothetical past situations. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and completing the question with the third conditional, e.g. 'If you had been able to design your own school curriculum, what subjects would you have included?' The student then asks the hypothetical question to the group members, who each answer in turn. Students then discuss their answers and vote for the one they think is the best or most interesting. Once the group has voted, students write the winning answer on the back of the card. When the groups have finished, go through each third conditional question and have the groups tell the class their answers.
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It's Regrettable

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL third conditional regrets game for upper-intermediate B2: forming sentences, guessing, group practice

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming Sentences, Guessing, Freer Practice - Group Work

In this thought-provoking third conditional game, students guess the underlying problem from classmates' third conditional sentences expressing regret. In groups, each student takes a card and thinks about...

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming Sentences from Prompts, Guessing, Freer Practice - Group Work In this thought-provoking third conditional game, students try to identify problems from conditional sentences expressing regret. In groups, each student takes a card and thinks about what caused the problem on their card. Students then plan how to express regrets about the situation using the third conditional without saying what the problem is. Next, students take turns talking about their regrets about the problem on their card using the third conditional, expressing at least three regrets for each problem. The other students listen and try to identify the problem. The first student to correctly guess the problem wins the card. If no one guesses correctly, the student expressing the regrets keeps the card. Afterwards, students students take a new card each and repeat the process. The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.
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Just Imagine

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL third conditional questions game for upper-intermediate B2: sentence completion, asking and answering, group work

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar and Speaking: Sentence Completion, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Group Work

In this free third conditional game, students first complete sentence prompts about hypothetical past situations and then race to identify who wrote each...

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar and Speaking: Sentence Completion, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Freer Practice - Group Work In this free third conditional game, students first complete sentence prompts about hypothetical past situations and then race to identify who wrote each sentence by asking third conditional questions. First, students complete third conditional sentences on strips any way they like. Working together as a class, all the students then fold up their completed sentences and put them in a box. Next, all the students stand up and take one strip each from the box, e.g. 'If I had gone on holiday last week, I would have gone to the beach.' Each student then forms a third conditional question from the sentence and goes around the class asking their question to find out who wrote it, e.g. 'If you had gone on holiday last week, would you have gone to the beach?' When a student finds the person who wrote the sentence, they write the person's name on the strip, keep it, and take another one from the box. Students repeat the activity until there are no sentences left in the box. The student with the most sentences at the end of the game wins. Finally, students report back to the class on what they found out during the game.
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Mary's Disastrous Dinner Party

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL third conditional running dictation activity for upper-intermediate B2: gap-fill, pair work

ESL Third Conditional Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Running Dictation, Gap-fill - Pair Work

In this productive third conditional running dictation activity, students race to dictate a story and then use it to complete third conditional sentences. One student is the reader and the other is the...

ESL Third Conditional Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Running Dictation, Gap-fill - Pair Work In this productive third conditional running dictation activity, students race to dictate a story and then use it to complete third conditional sentences. One student is the reader and the other is the writer. The reader runs to Text A on the wall outside the classroom, reads the first part of the story, tries to remember as much as they can, runs back and dictates the text to their partner who writes it down. This continues until Text A has been fully dictated. Students then swap roles with the new reader dictating Text B to their partner in the same way. Next, students use the story to complete third conditional sentences. For each sentence, students choose two verbs from a box, writing them in their positive or negative third conditional form as appropriate. The first pair of students to complete the third conditional sentences correctly wins.
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Mastering the Third Conditional

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL third conditional worksheet for upper-intermediate B2: matching, gap-fill, error correction, rewriting sentences, sentence completion

ESL Third Conditional Worksheet - Grammar Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill, Error Correction, Rewriting Sentences, Sentence Completion

In this comprehensive third conditional worksheet, students practice forming and using the third conditional to talk about unreal past situations and their results...

ESL Third Conditional Worksheet - Grammar Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill, Error Correction, Rewriting Sentences, Sentence Completion In this comprehensive third conditional worksheet, students practice forming and using the third conditional to talk about unreal past situations and their results. To begin, students read through the explanation of how to form and use the third conditional. Students then match third conditional sentence halves together to form sentences. Next, students complete third conditional sentences with the correct form of the verbs in brackets. After that, students find and correct mistakes in third conditional sentences. Students then move on to rewrite sentences using the third conditional. Finally, students complete third conditional sentences with their own ideas.
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My Mistake

Upper-intermediate (B2) 40 minutes
ESL third conditional role-play for upper-intermediate B2: preparing and delivering a dialogue, group work

ESL Third Conditional Role-Play - Speaking Activity: Preparing and Delivering a Dialogue, Identifying, Forming Sentences, Freer Practice - Group Work

In this creative third conditional activity, students role-play situations where someone made a mistake and needs to accept responsibility. In groups...

ESL Third Conditional Role-Play - Speaking Activity: Preparing and Delivering a Dialogue, Identifying, Forming Sentences, Freer Practice - Group Work In this creative third conditional activity, students role-play situations where someone made a mistake and needs to accept responsibility. In groups, students prepare a short role-play about a mistake that someone made using eight prompts on strips in their dialogue. Groups then present their role-plays to the class. While the groups are presenting, the other groups listen and hold up a corresponding strip each time they hear one of the eight prompts. After each group's role-play, students make third conditional sentences about the group's story, e.g. 'If Tom had woken up earlier, he wouldn't have missed his flight.'
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Third Conditional Board Game

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
ESL third conditional board game for upper-intermediate B2: sentence completion, asking and answering, group practice

ESL Third Conditional Board Game - Grammar and Speaking: Sentence Completion, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Group Work

In this enjoyable third conditional board game, students practice the third conditional by completing prompts and asking and answering questions...

ESL Third Conditional Board Game - Grammar and Speaking: Sentence Completion, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group Work In this enjoyable third conditional board game, students practice the third conditional by completing prompts and asking and answering questions. Players take turns rolling the dice and moving their counters along the board. When a player lands on a square, they use the clause in the square to make a third conditional sentence. If a player lands on an 'Ask a question' square, they ask a third conditional question to another student, e.g. 'What would you have done if you had woken up at 5 a.m.?' The student then answers the question in sentence form. The other students in the group judge the player's sentence or question. If the sentence or question is grammatically correct and makes sense, the player stays on the square. If a player cannot make a sentence or question, or they complete a sentence or question incorrectly, they go back two squares. The first player to reach the finish square wins the game.
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Third Conditional Practice

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
ESL third conditional worksheet for upper-intermediate B2: gap-fill, unscrambling, story, writing

ESL Third Conditional Worksheet - Grammar and Reading Exercises: Gap-fill, Unscrambling, Writing Sentences, Reading for Detail

This useful third conditional worksheet helps students practice forming and using affirmative and negative third conditional sentences. After reading...

ESL Third Conditional Worksheet - Grammar and Reading Exercises: Gap-fill, Unscrambling, Writing Sentences from Prompts, Reading for Detail This useful third conditional worksheet helps students practice forming and using affirmative and negative third conditional sentences. After reading through how to form the third conditional, students practice the structure by completing third conditional sentences with verbs in brackets. Next, students reorder words to make third conditional sentences starting with an if-clause. Finally, students read a story about someone's bad day and write third conditional sentences about it using prompts.
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What Might Have Happened?

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL third conditional game for upper-intermediate B2: matching, forming sentences, controlled practice

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar and Speaking: Matching, Forming Sentences, Controlled Practice - Group Work

In this rewarding third conditional game, students practice forming third conditional sentences to express regrets about unreal past situations. In groups, students take turns picking up a problem card and...

ESL Third Conditional Game - Grammar and Speaking: Matching, Forming Sentences, Controlled Practice - Group Work In this rewarding third conditional game, students practice forming third conditional sentences to express regrets about unreal past situations. In groups, students take turns picking up a problem card and reading it aloud, e.g. 'I failed a test.' The student to their right looks at the cards in their hand and tries to match the problem card with a suitable reason card, e.g. 'I didn't study enough.' The student then combines both sentences from the cards to form a third conditional sentence and says it aloud, e.g. 'If I had studied enough, I wouldn't have failed the test.' If the other group members agree that the sentence is grammatically correct and that the cards are a logical match, the student discards their reason card from the game. If the sentence is incorrect, the match is illogical, or the person is unable to make a sentence, the student keeps their reason card, and play passes to the next student. The next student then tries to match the same problem card. Play continues until every student has had a turn. When the round is over, the problem card is put at the bottom of the pile, and the next student picks up a problem card, and so on. The first student to get rid of all their reason cards wins the game.
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Understanding the Third Conditional

The third conditional uses the structure 'if + past perfect, would have + past participle' to talk about imaginary situations in the past and their hypothetical results, as in 'If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam.' Students who confuse it with the second conditional produce sentences that sound as though they are talking about a present or future situation rather than a finished past one, which undermines the meaning entirely.

This page covers the third conditional with 13 activities spanning gap-fill pair games, card-matching games, a running dictation, a role-play, and a full speaking mingle, including two free downloads.

Note that 'had' is used for all subjects including 'I,' the result clause can use 'would,' 'could,' or 'might' to vary the degree of certainty, and in formal writing the if-clause can be inverted by placing 'had' first and dropping 'if' entirely. The table below shows the fixed if-clause structure and the main result clause options for the third conditional.

FormStructureExample
Standard if-clause if + subject + had + past participle 'If he had studied harder'
Standard result clause (would) subject + would have + past participle 'he would have passed the exam.'
Result clause (could) subject + could have + past participle 'he could have passed the exam.'
Result clause (might) subject + might have + past participle 'he might have passed the exam.'
Negative if-clause if + subject + hadn't + past participle 'If she hadn't missed the bus'
Negative result clause subject + wouldn't have + past participle 'she wouldn't have been late.'
Inverted formal if-clause had + subject + past participle, no 'if' 'Had he arrived on time'

When to Use the Third Conditional

Analyzing Cause and Effect After the Fact: Writers and speakers reach for the third conditional when they want to trace how one past decision shaped a chain of consequences, as in a post-project review where a team notes, 'If we had set clearer deadlines, we would have delivered on time.'

Offering Tactful Criticism Without Direct Blame: The third conditional lets a speaker point out what went wrong while framing it as a hypothetical rather than an accusation, which softens the impact, as in 'If you had confirmed the booking, we wouldn't have lost the reservation.'

Exploring Historical Turning Points: Historians, journalists, and students writing analytical essays use the third conditional to speculate about how events might have unfolded differently, as in 'If the ceasefire agreement had held, the conflict might have ended within months.'

3-Step Framework for Teaching the Third Conditional

1. Build the Foundation First: Before students attempt any speaking, give them time to work through the structure systematically. Start with exercises that move from matching clause halves to completing verb forms, and then to finding and correcting mistakes in third conditional sentences. That error-correction step is especially valuable: students who can spot a wrong form in someone else's sentence are much better placed to monitor their own production.

2. Move to Controlled Speaking with Cards: With the structure secure, shift to a card activity where students pick up a problem card, read it aloud, then match it with a reason card from their hand. The real challenge comes in combining both cards into a correctly formed third conditional sentence, producing examples like 'If I had studied enough, I wouldn't have failed the test.' Other group members act as judges for accuracy and logical fit, which keeps everyone focused.

3. Push into Freer Production with a Role-Play: Once students can form the structure accurately, a role-play pushes them into more spontaneous territory. Groups prepare a short scene about a mistake, building their dialogue from eight prompts on strips. While one group performs, the others listen and hold up a corresponding strip each time they hear one of the eight prompts, which drives focused listening alongside production.

Common Mistakes with the Third Conditional

Using 'Would Have' in the If-Clause: Students often copy the result clause pattern into the if-clause, writing 'would have' where the past perfect is required. Wrong: 'If I would have known about the meeting, I would have attended.' Correct: 'If I had known about the meeting, I would have attended.'

Dropping 'Have' from the Result Clause: Students often write the result clause as 'would + past participle' instead of 'would have + past participle,' leaving out the 'have' that marks the event as a completed past action. Wrong: 'If I had called earlier, I would arrived on time.' Correct: 'If I had called earlier, I would have arrived on time.'

Common Questions About Teaching the Third Conditional

What is an engaging third conditional board game?

The board game Third Conditional Board Game combines controlled and freer practice as players move around the board completing sentence prompts. When they land on an 'Ask a question' square, they ask a third conditional question to another student, such as 'What would you have done if you had woken up at 5 a.m.?' Group members judge each answer.

What third conditional worksheet can I use in class?

The worksheet Third Conditional Practice covers three task types and moves from controlled to freer production. Students complete gap-fill sentences with verbs in brackets, then reorder words to form sentences starting with an if-clause, and finally read a story about someone's bad day and write third conditional sentences about it using prompts.

What is a good third conditional speaking activity?

If Things Were Different is a free speaking activity where students use real personal information to practice the third conditional. They imagine a situation from their card happened to them last week, go around the class asking classmates 'What happened to you last week?' and write a third conditional sentence about how things could have been different.

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