11.3 Conditional Sentences

11.3	Conditional Sentences

Conditional sentences refer to future situations where one event is conditional on another event. They take the form “If X happens, then Y will happen.” Note that every conditional sentence has two parts, the “if clause” and the “result cause.” In English, the if clause is usually in the present tense and the result clause is usually in the future tense. In Hindi, however, we have three ways to translate the sentence:

	If he comes,	then I will give him the book.
	if clause	result clause
A.	अगर वह आएगा	तो मैं उसे किताब दूँगा।
B.	अगर वह आए	तो मैं उसे किताब दूँगा।
C.	अगर वह आए	तो मैं उसे किताब दूँ।

Choices A and B have more or less the same meaning. In choices C, the use of the optative tense in the result clause makes the meaning a little more “wishy-washy.” Sentence C could be translated “If he comes then I might give him the book.”

Note: The the combination “If [future], then [optative]” is not allowed. The following chart shows the three allowed combinations:

If Clause	Result Clause
future	future
optative	future
optative	optative

See Snell’s Teach Yourself Hindi (2000)
Section 10.4 page 129

If Clause

Result Clause