Third Conditional

Questions about hypothetical or imaginary situations in the past.

See more grammar discussion topics

  1. If you had been born 100 years earlier, how would your life have been different?
  2. If you had been born into a very rich family, how would your childhood have been different?
  3. If you had been given a million euros or dollars for your 10th birthday, how would you have spent it?
  4. If the Allies hadn’t won World War II, how would the twentieth century have been different?
  5. If somebody had invited you to an all-night rave last weekend, would you have gone?
  6. If you had found a thousand euros or dollars in the street this morning, what would you have done?
  7. If you had met a homeless person in the street this morning, would you have given them some money?
  8. If you had been your country’s leader for the past 10 years, would you have done anything differently?
  9. If you had been able to eat whatever you wanted as a child, what would you have eaten?
  10. If you had been able to choose your career when you were a child, what would you have chosen?
  11. If a bully at school had told you to give him your lunch money, would you have given it to him?
  12. If you had been offered a drug at school to make you pass all your exams, would you have taken it?
PDF (Individual)
General
PDF (Pairs)
General
PDF (Threes)
General
PDF (Cards)
General
How to use the third conditional ESL discussion questions

It is recommended that you download the third conditional ESL discussion questions in PDF format using one of the links above. The best way to encourage classroom interaction is to download and print the third conditional discussion questions in the 'pairs' or 'threes' PDF format and then divide the questions by cutting along the dotted lines. This allows students to take turns asking and answering the third conditional discussion questions in groups of two or three. Alternatively, you could use the 'cards' format to distribute the questions to any number of students to ask and share.

It is advisable to prepare students for using these discussion questions by first introducing them to the topic of third conditional in an interesting and engaging way. An anecdote, quiz question or a related image or video could all be used to achieve this. Depending on the level, it may also be necessary to pre-teach any challenging vocabulary related to third conditional contained in the discussion questions.

For more ESL discussion questions, see this site's main page. There are discussion questions on a range of topics including general, grammar and business English topics.

For further information about the site and its author, see the about page.