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Conditional Clauses Type 2

 Writers of textbooks usually explain a grammar lesson concerning conditional sentences Type 2 and state that this condition refers to an unlikely or untrue result and sometimes an impossible one. So far, so good, but I noticed that most teachers who adopt the grammar-translation method translate the verb in the “If -clause” Type 2 into the past tense and so do they concerning the verb in the result clause.  The question that raises itself is: “How are they going to translate the verb of the “if-clause” in conditional sentences Type 3?  I mean sentences like:

                            If you studied, you would succeed.

                            If you had studied, you would have succeeded.

would have the same translations according to what has been mentioned above. What I want to highlight here is that conditional sentences Type 2 are not to be translated into the past tense in Arabic, but they have to be translated into the present tense with a different implication and reference. The teachers who translate most of their material are now cornered because they have three types of conditional sentences each with a different implication understood and felt intuitively by the native speakers of English, simply because the past tense in conditional sentences Type 2 is unreal. All teachers of English have studied the unreal past. It is a tense whose form is the past, but its connotation and reference are present.

                                                                       I wish I were a king.

     This sentence, though it contains a verb in the past were, is a sentence that is said in the present and not in the past. We can say:

                                                                      I wish I were a king now.

     The translation of such a sentence despite the fact that it has a verb in the past is in the present, simply because this past is the unreal past. The same can applied to conditional sentences Type 2.  We can say:

                                        If you studied (now), you would succeed.    (Type 2)

(The implication here is that we are not very much sure that you are going to study.)

                                           If you study, you will succeed.                      (Type 1)

(The implication here is that we are, to some extent, sure that you are going to study.)

  Both sentences are said before the exam, but each one has a different implication, intuitively felt by the native speaker of English. Besides, both sentences are to be translated into the present tense in Arabic.

The third Type of conditional sentences should have a past translation in Arabic because they contain the past perfect tense. A sentence like:

  If you had studied (last year), you would have succeeded.                   (Type3)

 (The implication here is that you didn’t study and that is why you failed your exams. It is said after the exam)

    A sentence like:  “If I were you, I would get married.” can be translated into the past tense in Arabic. This is an impossible case. We can come to the conclusion that Conditional sentences Type 1 and Type 2 are to be, in most cases, given a present translation with different implications and connotations, felt by the native speaker of English and its attentive learners, whereas Type 3 is to be given a past translation, for it has a past perfect tense that always implies the past. The simple past tense does not always refer to the past, as is the case in these sentences:

                    It’s high time we went now.

                    He wishes he saw the president.

                    If only I knew his name, I would tell it to the police.

                    If somebody gave me a lot of money, I would buy a computer.

All these sentences contain verbs in the past, but with a present reference.

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