UNREAL OR HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS

Mabel lives in a city, but she imagines how she would feel about living in the country. Let's read what this woman says:

I'd get very bored if I lived in the country all the time. I'd miss the stimulus of city life. But if I lived somewhere that was within easy reach of the city, I'd be quite happy living in the country.

These are unreal or hypothetical conditional sentences.

You use this kind of conditional sentence to talk about imaginary situations in the present or future, or things that could happen but probably will not happen:

If I were very rich, I would have one house in the country and another in the city, and a third on a tropical island !!

Please, remember these 3 basic rules:

1) In the conditional clause, you usually use either was or were with I, he, she or it:

If I were rich ...   or   If I was rich ...

2) But you usually use were in the expression If I were you ...:

If I were you, I'd look for a cheaper flat in the suburbs.

3) You may also use 'could' or 'might' instead of 'would' in the main clause, depending on the meaning:

You could live with me if you paid half the rent.
If I had $1,000,000, I might buy that fantastic flat in Buenos Aires.