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"Third conditional" or "conditional III" is a pattern used to refer to hypothetical situations in a past time frame, generally counterfactual (or at least presented as counterfactual). Here the condition clause is in the past perfect, and the consequence is expressed using the conditional perfect. If you had called me, I would have come.
In an unreal conditional, the imperfect subjunctive refers to a situation contrary to fact at the present time or at the time of the story, while in a past ideal conditional, the imperfect subjunctive refers prospectively to a situation that might have occurred at a later time than the time of the narrative.
In counterfactual conditional sentences with a past time frame, the condition is expressed using the pluperfect e.g. (s'il avait attendu, "if he had waited"), and the consequence with the conditional perfect (e.g. je l'aurais vu, "I would have seen him"). Again these verb forms parallel those used in English.
This commonly occurs in content clauses (typically that-clauses and indirect questions), when governed by a predicate of saying (thinking, knowing, etc.) which is in the past tense or conditional mood. In this situation the following tense and aspect changes occur relative to the original words: § Present changes to past: "I like apples."
In Homer, the imperfect in unreal conditionals refers only to past time. In a present unreal conditional, the protasis may have the optative in both halves, although this is very rare. [114] In a past unreal conditional the protasis has either an imperfect or an aorist indicative, and in the apodosis either an imperfect or aorist indicative ...
In the literary language, past unreal conditional sentences as above may take the pluperfect subjunctive in one clause or both, so that the following sentences are all valid and have the same meaning as the preceding example: Si j ' eusse su, je ne serais pas venu; Si j ' avais su, je ne fusse pas venu; Si j ' eusse su, je ne fusse pas venu.
The tense changes illustrated above (also called backshifting), which occur because the main verb ("said", "asked") is in the past tense, are not obligatory when the situation described is still valid: [6] [7] [8] Ed is a bore. She said that Ed was/is a bore. [7] (optional change of tense) I am coming over to watch television.
The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of an utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude toward it.Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that has not yet occurred; the precise situations in which they are used ...