Conditional Sentences (als)
Conditional Sentences (als)
Dutch conditionals rest on a tense trick English shares but expresses differently: to talk about an unreal present, you use the simple past. Als ik rijk was means 'if I were rich' — the past form signalling unreality rather than past time.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Real conditions: present tense in both halves
Als het morgen regent, blijf ik thuis.
If it rains tomorrow, I'll stay home.
For a condition that may well happen, both clauses stay in the present. Note two structural points: als sends its own verb to the end (als het regent), and because the whole als-clause fills first position, the main clause must start with its verb — blijf ik thuis. English keeps 'I will stay' in normal order and adds a future auxiliary Dutch does not need.
Unreal present: simple past plus zou
Als ik rijk was, zou ik een huis kopen.
If I were rich, I would buy a house.
For something contrary to fact, the als-clause takes the simple past — was, had, kon, wist — and the main clause takes zou + infinitive. English does the same with 'were' and 'would', so the logic transfers directly; what differs is that Dutch uses its ordinary past forms with no special subjunctive, and that the word order in both halves follows Dutch rules.
Unreal past: past perfect, and als can be dropped
Als ik het geweten had, zou ik gekomen zijn. → Had ik het geweten, dan was ik gekomen.
If I had known, I would have come.
For a missed possibility in the past, use the past perfect in the condition and zou ... zijn/hebben in the result — or, very commonly, the past perfect in both halves: Als ik het geweten had, was ik gekomen. Dutch also allows dropping als entirely and inverting the verb to the front: Had ik het geweten, dan ... . English has exactly this construction in 'Had I known...', which makes it one of the more familiar advanced patterns.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- if / when
- English
- then
- English
- If I were you
- English
- unless
- English
- provided that
- English
- otherwise
- English
- in that case
- English
- suppose that
- English
- had I known
- English
- in any case
Finished this lesson?