Explanation
Mixed conditionals talk about unreal situations in two different times. One common form uses a past condition and a present result.
For example, "If I had left earlier, I would be home already." Here, "had left" shows a past action that did not happen. "Would be home" shows the result now. Japanese often says "もしもっと早く出ていたら、もう家に着いているのに," so the time change is shown by words like "今" or "もう," not by changing the verb form in the same way.
混合条件文は、違う時点にある「ありえた条件」と「ありえた結果」を言います。よくある形は、過去の条件と現在の結果をつなぐ形です。
例えば "If I had left earlier, I would be home already." では、"had left" が「もっと早く出る」という過去の事実でなかったことを表します。"would be home" は「今はもう家にいるはずだ」という現在の結果です。日本語では「もしもっと早く出ていたら、もう家に着いているのに」のように言い、英語ほど動詞の形をはっきり変えません。
Examples
- If I had left earlier, I would be home already. もっと早く出ていたら、もう家に着いているのに。
- If she lived closer, she would have visited us more often. 彼女がもっと近くに住んでいたら、もっと頻繁に私たちを訪ねてきてくれただろう。
- If we had known about the traffic, we would be taking the train now. 渋滞のことを知っていたら、今ごろ電車に乗っているのに。
- Would you be less tired if you had slept better? もっとよく寝ていたら、今はもっと疲れていませんか。
- If he really loved her, he would have sent her flowers on her birthday. もし彼が本当に彼女を愛していたなら、彼女の誕生日に花を贈ったはずだ。
- If I had booked the earlier train, I would be in London now. もっと早い電車を予約していたら、今ごろロンドンにいるのに。
Common Mistakes
Japanese learners often use the past simple after "if" when the meaning is past unreal.
Wrong: "If I studied harder, I would have a better job now."
Right: "If I had studied harder, I would have a better job now."
Use "had + past participle" for the unreal past condition.
日本語学習者は、過去のありえなかった条件でも "if" の後を過去形にしてしまいがちです。
誤り: "If I studied harder, I would have a better job now."
正しくは "If I had studied harder, I would have a better job now."
過去の反実仮想の条件では、"had + 過去分詞" を使います。