The standard structure is:
| Time reference | Verb in main clause | Verb in conditional clause | ||
|
Present or future |
would, (could, might) |
Past, usually past simple |
 | If you won a fortune, what would you do? (Si guanyessis una fortuna, què faries?) |
| We wouldn't be surprised if there was a strike. (No ens sorprendria si hi hagués una vaga.) |
| If Jane came, she might be able to help us. (Si vingués la Jane, potser ens podria ajudar.) |
| If your cousins were staying longer, we could visit the mountains. (Si els vostres cosins es quedessin més temps, podríem anar a la muntanya.) |
You will sometimes meet second conditionals with a different structure including should, e.g.:
| If you should win a fortune, what would you do? (Si guanyessis una fortuna, què faries?) |
There are variant conditional structures, which are less frequent, but which have a similar meaning, e.g.:
| If you were to win a fortune, what would you do? (Si guanyessis una fortuna, què faries?) |
| If you should win a fortune, what would you do? (Si guanyessis una fortuna, què faries?) |
| Were you to win a fortune, what would you do? (Si guanyessis una fortuna, què faries?) |
| Should you win a fortune, what would you do? (Si guanyessis una fortuna, què faries?) |
| Supposing (that) you won a fortune, what would you do? (Suposant que guanyessis una fortuna, què faries?) |
These variants usually suggest a more improbable condition.
Just as in Catalan, the condition is not always made explicit, e.g.:
| I wouldn't live there for all the money in the world. (No viuria allà ni per tots els diners del món.) |
| But for John's courage, we would all be dead. (Si no fos per la valentia d'en John, estaríem tots morts.) |
We also use would rather and it's time with a past verb form that refers to present or future time, e.g.:
| A: Is it all right if the representative comes this afternoon? (Us sembla bé si el representant ve aquesta tarda?) |
| B: I'd rather he came tomorrow. (Preferiria que vingués demà.) |
| It's late. It's time we went home. (És tard. És hora d'anar-nos-en a casa.) |
| |||
 |
| ||
| |||