If you should: might-be and mixed conditions

Should and would: the present subjunctive

The present subjunctive in both halves imagines something that could still happen but is not expected. English says if you were to... or if you should..., then would. Textbooks call it the future less vivid.

• Si rex veniat, gaudeam. - If the king should come, I would be glad.
• Si quis te roget, quid respondeas? - If someone were to ask you, what would you answer?

Compare si rex veniet, gaudebo, with the future indicative: there the king is expected. The subjunctive moves the same event into suppose.

Mixed conditions

Each half takes the tense its own time needs, so the two can differ.

The first: if you had come yesterday, you would be happy now. The past did not happen, so the present is not true. The second: if he were a good man, he would not have done this. His character is a lasting fact; the deed is past.

How to read a condition

When you meet si, nisi or sin, do not translate from the first word. Work through it in this order:

Then choose the English: if X is, Y is; if X should, Y would; if X were, Y would; if X had, Y would have. Four English shapes cover every condition on this page.