If you read this, you WILL learn!

The last form to express the future is the first conditional and its alternative forms such as the "zero conditional" (also known as present-´present conditional). This is a very common form to express that a future event or action will take place in case that a prior condition is fulfilled.

Here you have a great excerpt from Perfect English Grammar, a website for self-study that I highly recommend because it includes friendly grammatical explanations, videos that reinforce what you can read in the theoretical part and make it easier to assimilate as well as many excercises you can both practise on-line of just download it for free in a pdf format and print it out for handing them out in your class.

The first conditional has the present simple after 'if', then the future simple in the other clause:

• If + present simple, ... will + infinitive

It's used to talk about things which might happen in the future. Of course, we can't know what will happen in the future, but this describes possible things, which could easily come true.

• If it rains, I won't go to the park.
• If I study today, I'll go to the party tonight.
• If I have enough money, I'll buy some new shoes.
• She'll be late if the train is delayed.
• She'll miss the bus if she doesn't leave soon.
• If I see her, I'll tell her.

First vs. Zero Conditional

The first conditional describes a particular situation, whereas the zero conditional describes what happens in general.

For example (zero conditional): if you sit in the sun, you get burned (here I'm talking about every time a person sits in the sun - the burning is a natural consequence of the sitting)

But (first conditional): if you sit in the sun, you'll get burned (here I'm talking about what will happen today, another day might be different)

First vs. Second Conditional

The first conditional describes things that I think are likely to happen in the future, whereas the second conditional talks about things that I don't think will really happen. It's subjective; it depends on my point of view.

For example (first conditional): If she studies harder, she'll pass the exam (I think it's possible she will study harder and so she'll pass)

But (second conditional): If she studied harder, she would pass the exam (I think that she won't study harder, or it's very unlikely, and so she won't pass)

This is a wonderful video were you can watch a hands-on activity that will help you grasp the grammatical concepts we have just seen above.

Click here if you wish to download a paper copy in a pdf format from Perfect English Grammar with a very good cloze test to practise this form of talking about the future.