The Second Conditional:

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The second conditional uses the past simple after if, then ‘would’ and the infinitive:

• Example: if + past simple, …would + infinitive

When do you use the second conditional?

Typically it is use to talk about things in the future that will probably not happen.

For example:

• If I won the lottery, I would travel the world
• If I played hockey as a kid, I would have made it to the NHL

Also, we can use it to talk about something in the present that seems impossible.

For example:

• If I were you, I would go to the gym more.
• If I had a gym membership, I would go to the gym everyday!

The difference between these two examples is that in the second examples these sentences are a lot more unlikely to actually happen.