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A conditional phrase is one that refers to a past, present, or future possibilities. The conditional sentence is made up of two clauses, the "if" clause and the main clause which is the consequence of the "if" clause.
There are five forms that can make up a conditional sentence; The Zero Conditional, First Conditional, Second Conditional, Third Conditional, and Mixed Conditional. The Zero Conditional is used to describe undeniable facts, therefore it is probably the simplest conditional phrase to understand the usage. The Zero Conditional uses only the present tense in each clause, for example "wax melts when you light a candle". The form is if/when + present tense, present tense.
The First Conditional describes a possible real situation that will happen in the future. The idea is that the situation is very likely to come true when the condition is satisfied. An example would be "if she starts working at that boutique, she will get a discount on the clothes". The form is if + present simple, will.
The Second Conditional is used for hypothetical situations that probably will not come true. For example "if I could have chosen any car, I would drive a Ferrari". The form is if + past simple, would/could/might + base form.
The Third Conditional describes a completely hypothetical past action and consequence. The nature of this conditional phrase is that the condition is never satisfied because it did not happen to begin with. An example would be "if I had driven any longer, I would have run out of fuel". The form is if + past perfect, would/could/might + have + past participle.
The Mixed Conditional is a mix of the second and third conditional clauses. Similar to the Third Conditional, the mixed conditional refers to a hypothetical action in the past, but this time with a hypothetical present consequence. The form is if + past perfect, would + base form. An example of this form, "if I had left my house two minutes later, I would have missed my train and been thirty minutes late for work".
Direct speech is what occurs in a conversation in the moment, it can be turned into reported speech when repeated later on. When something becomes reported speech there will be a verb change. For example, if my brother says "I am enjoying the musical I am watching" and I wanted to tell my mother he said that, my reported speech to her later would be "he said he was enjoying the musical he was watching". The verb tense has changed because now the action referred to in the direct speech is in the past. When the direct speech is in the present tense, simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous, then it will change to its past tense counter part in reported speech. If the direct speech is in the past tense, past simple will become past perfect, past continuous will become past perfect continuous, and past perfect as well as past perfect continuous remain the same in reported speech.
