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Some of you might already know that I'm a huge Queen fan. Today (5th September 2026) is a very important day because Freddie Mercury was born 80 years ago.
So I thought I would take this opportunity to raise a cup of tea in his memory, but also to give us a little bit of practice with the 'Third Conditional' in English grammar!
"If he had still been alive, Freddie Mercury would have been 80 today"
Let's break that down. The 'conditional' forms in English all describe the outcome of certain situations or conditions. They have 2 parts : An 'if' clause (to tell us the situation or facts), and the main clause (to tell us the outcome).
There are 5 mains types of conditional : zero, first, second, third & mixed.
We use the Third Conditional to imagine different outcomes in the past, if a certain situation had been true.
It is formed as follows:
If + Past Perfect, would have + past participle
If he had still been alive, Freddie Mercury would have been 80 today
We can also put the 2 clauses the other way round:
Freddie Mercury would have been 80 today if he had still been alive
(Notice that when we put the 'if' clause after the main clause, we don't need a comma).
If you have studied English through grammar textbooks then you will have seen lots of example sentences for the third conditional, and I bet many of them were similar to this:
If I had studied harder, I would have become a doctor
If I hadn't missed the bus, I wouldn't have arrived late for the meeting
We don't always need to use 'would' in the main clause, we often use 'could' or 'might'
If they had told me their problems, I might have been able to help
These are all perfectly fine sentences, but maybe they're not relevant to you?! I always encourage people to use the English language in ways that describe their own situations, thoughts or feelings, not just do textbook exercises. Why not try writing a few Third Conditional sentences of your own that apply to you? If you put them in the comments below I will reply with feedback, or you can message me privately if you prefer.
Liz English
Oct 1, 2026
Hi Saori! Spot on, I bet it would have been the party to end all parties. I wonder what the theme would have been?!
Saori0718
Oct 1, 2026
Hi Liz! Happy birthday to dear Freddie!
If he had still been alive, he would have thrown an outrageous birthday party and we would have sang along bohemian rhapsody together!