Unit 23: Great expectations!
First conditional
Select a unit
- 1 Nice to meet you!
- 2 What to wear
- 3 Like this, like that
- 4 The daily grind
- 5 Christmas every day
- 6 Great achievers
- 7 The Titanic
- 8 Travel
- 9 The big wedding
- 10 Sunny's job hunt
- 11 The bucket list
- 12 Moving and migration
- 13 Welcome to BBC Broadcasting House
- 14 New Year, New Project
- 15 From Handel to Hendrix
- 16 What's the weather like?
- 17 The Digital Revolution
- 18 A detective story
- 19 A place to live
- 20 The Cult of Celebrity
- 21 Welcome to your new job
- 22 Beyond the planets
- 23 Great expectations!
- 24 Eco-tourism
- 25 Moving house
- 26 It must be love
- 27 Job hunting success... and failure
- 28 Speeding into the future
- 29 Lost arts
- 30 Tales of survival
Session 2
When a baby is on the way, everyone has a lot of advice. We listen to some friends advising a mother to be, and then hear her making some plans for the coming months.
Activity 1
Advice for new mums
If I get tired, I'll have a nap
Sue is in the family way! She is expecting a baby - it's due in November. Her friends have a lot of advice for her and husband Harry. Listen. Do you think the advice is good or bad?
Listen to the audio and complete the activity
Pete
If you drink eight glasses of water a day, you'll get fewer headaches.
Lucy
Your circulation will be better if you lie on your back and put your feet in the air.
Pete
If Harry sings songs to your bump, your baby will get used to his voice.
Lucy
If you pack a bag in advance, you'll be ready to go to the hospital when you go into labour.
Pete
The baby will be bilingual if you and Harry speak to it in two different languages.
if + will
All the advice uses the first conditional: if + will. We use the first conditional to talk about possible future situations (or 'conditions') and their results. The person giving the advice doesn't know whether or not Sue will do these things.
A conditional sentence usually has two parts: the if part and the result (main) part. For the first conditional we use the present simple in the if part, and will + infinitive (without to) in the main part.
The two parts can be in any order. When the 'if' part comes first, we put a comma between the if and the main part. We don't use a comma when the main part comes first.
If I feel tired, I'll have a nap.
I'll have a nap if I feel tired.
It isn't certain that I'll feel tired.
Negative
If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss the train.
They won’t go to the beach if it isn’t sunny.
Question
If you get home early, what will you do?
How will he feel if he doesn’t get the job?
Download
You can download the audio here (size: 999KB).
Matching game
5 Questions
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
Matching game
5 Questions
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Question 1 of 5
Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Question 2 of 5
Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Question 3 of 5
Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Question 4 of 5
Help
Activity
Match the two halves of the first conditional sentences.
Hint
The sentences are the other way around to the ones in the transcript.Question 5 of 5
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
Next
How did you get on? Hopefully you can now use present conditional sentences to future possible situations and give advice. In the next activity you will see how to talk about certain future situations.
Session Grammar
We use the first conditional to talk about possible future situations and their results.
We make the first conditional with
if + present simple with will + infinitive.The two parts of the sentence can be in any order.
If I feel tired, I'll have a nap.
I'll have a nap if I feel tired. isn't certain that I'll feel tired.
Negative
If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss the train.They won’t go to the beach if it isn’t sunny.
Question
If you get home early, what will you do?How will he feel if he doesn’t get the job?
Session Vocabulary
in the family way
(informal) pregnantexpecting
(here) waiting for a baby to be borndue
(here) expected to give birthheadaches
pains in the headcirculation
movement of blood through the bodybump
(here) large belly containing the babybilingual
able to speak two languages fluentlygo into labour
start giving birthnap
little sleep