Will or be going to?

When we want to talk about future facts or things we believe to be true about the future, we use 'will'.

• The President will serve for four years.
• The boss won't be very happy.
• I'm sure you'll like her.
• I'm certain he'll do a good job.

If we are not so certain about the future, we use 'will' with expressions such as 'probably', 'possibly', 'I think', 'I hope'.

• I hope you'll visit me in my home one day.
• She'll probably be a great success.
• I'll possibly come but I may not get back in time.
• I think we'll get on well.

If you are making a future prediction based on evidence in the present situation, use 'going to'.

• Not a cloud in the sky. It's going to be another warm day.
• Look at the queue. We're not going to get in for hours.
• The traffic is terrible. We're going to miss our flight.
• Be careful! You're going to spill your coffee.

At the moment of making a decision, use 'will'. Once you have made the decision, talk about it using 'going to'.

• I'll call Jenny to let her know. Sarah, I need Jenny's number. I'm going to call her about the meeting.
• I'll come and have a drink with you but I must let Harry know. Harry, I'm going to have a drink with Simon.

 You can also check this table:

Will + infinitive	Be going to + infinitive
A decision at the moment of speaking (instant decisions) Julie: There's no milk. John: Really? In that case, I'll go and get some.	A decision before the moment of speaking (plans or intentions) Julie: There's no milk. John: I know. I'm going to go and get some when this TV programme finishes.
A prediction based on opinion: I think the Conservatives will win the next election.	A prediction based on something we can see (or hear) now: The Conservatives are going to win the election. They already have most of the votes.
A future fact: The sun will rise tomorrow.
For promises / requests / refusals / offers: I'll help you tomorrow, if you like.

You can now practise with the following exercises:

Exercise1              Exercise2               Exercise3                 Exercise4           Exercise5      Exercise6

Practise conditional sentences while you play!

You have some games here to practise. Have lots of fun!
Game1  (Who wants to be a billionaire?)
Game2   (Rally)


You can also listen to some conditional sentences in this song by Beyoncé.

Shake it off (Taylor Swift)

Mixed Conditional Exercises

You can practise with all these exercises:
 Exercise1           Exercise2             Exercise3            Exercise4           Exercise5           Exercise6           Exercise7             Exercise8            Exercise9            Exercise10

The Third Conditional(for no possibility) 

 If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a car.

The first conditional and second conditionals talk about the future. With the third conditional we talk about the past. We talk about a condition in the past that did not happen. That is why there is no possibility for this condition. The third conditional is also like a dream, but with no possibility of the dream coming true.
Last week you bought a lottery ticket. But you did not win. :-(

if	condition	result
	Past Perfect	would have + past participle
If	I had won the lottery,	I would have bought a car.

Notice that we are thinking about an impossible past condition. You did not win the lottery. So the condition was not true, and that particular condition can never be true because it is finished. We use the Past Perfect tense to talk about the impossible past condition. We use would have + past participle to talk about the impossible past result. The important thing about the third conditional is that both the condition and result are impossible now.
Look at these example senteces:

if	condition	result
	Past Perfect	would have + past participle
If	I had seen Mary,	I would have told her.
If	Tara had been free yesterday,	I would have invited her.
If	they had not passed their exam,	their teacher would have been sad.
If	it had rained yesterday,	would you have stayed at home?
If	it had rained yesterday,	what would you have done?

result	if	condition
would have + past participle		Past Perfect
I would have told Mary	if	I had seen her.
I would have invited Tara	if	she had been free yesterday.
Their teacher would have been sad	if	they had not passed their exam.
Would you have stayed at home	if	it had rained yesterday?
What would you have done	if	it had rained yesterday?

Sometimes, we use should have, could have, might have instead of would have, for example: If you had bought a lottery ticket, you might have won.

You can practise now with the following exercises

Exercise 1    Exercise 2     Exercise 3    Exercise 4     Exercise 5     Exercise 6   Exercise 7   Exercise 8 

The Second Conditional.
The second conditional uses the past simple after if, then 'would' and the infinitive:

• if + past simple, ...would + infinitive

(We can use 'were' instead of 'was' with 'I' and 'he/she/it'. This is mostly done in formal writing).
It has two uses.
First, we can use it to talk about things in the future that are probably not going to be true. Maybe I'm imagining some dream for example.

• If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house.(I probably won't win the lottery)
• If I met the Queen of England, I would say hello.
• She would travel all over the world if she were rich.
• She would pass the exam if she ever studied.(She never studies, so this won't happen)

Second, we can use it to talk about something in the present which is impossible, because it's not true. Is that clear? Have a look at the examples:

• If I had his number, I would call him. (I don't have his number now, so it's impossible for me to call him).
• If I were you, I wouldn't go out with that man.

How is this different from the first conditional? This kind of conditional sentence is different from the first conditional because this is a lot more unlikely.

For example (second conditional): If I had enough money I would buy a house with twenty bedrooms and a swimming pool (I'm probably not going to have this much money, it's just a dream, not very real)

But (first conditional): If I have enough money, I'll buy some new shoes (It's much more likely that'll have enough money to buy some shoes)

You can practise with the following exercises:
Exercise 1 Exercise 2  Exercise 3   Exercise 4 
Exercise 5   Exercise 6   Exercise 7   Exercise 8        

A2. Grammar Topics

Articles 

Adverbs - describing verbs 

Adverbial phrases 

Can / could 

Comparative adjectives 

First Conditional 

Gerunds & infinitives 

Going to 

Have to 

How questions 

Imperative forms 

Past continuous 

Past simple 

Phrasal verbs (inseparable) 

Phrasal verbs (separable) 

Present continuous 

Present continuous for future 

Present perfect 

Should / ought to 

Some / any / much / many 

Subject & object questions 

Superlatives 

Uncountable nouns 

Will / won't 

Zero conditional 

Would like vs like