Unit 23: Great expectations!
First conditional
Select a unit
- 1Nice to meet you!
- 2What to wear
- 3Like this, like that
- 4The daily grind
- 5Christmas every day
- 6Great achievers
- 7The Titanic
- 8Travel
- 9The big wedding
- 10Sunny's job hunt
- 11The bucket list
- 12Moving and migration
- 13Welcome to BBC Broadcasting House
- 14New Year, New Project
- 15From Handel to Hendrix
- 16What's the weather like?
- 17The Digital Revolution
- 18A detective story
- 19A place to live
- 20The Cult of Celebrity
- 21Welcome to your new job
- 22Beyond the planets
- 23Great expectations!
- 24Eco-tourism
- 25Moving house
- 26It must be love
- 27Job hunting success... and failure
- 28Speeding into the future
- 29Lost arts
- 30Tales of survival
Session 2
When a baby is on the way, everyone has a lot of advice. We listen to some friends advising a mother to be, and then hear her making some plans for the coming months.
Activity 2
Sue's ready for anything
Making plans
Sue has only just found out she is pregnant, but she has already been making plans. Do you think they are all good ideas?
Listen to the audio and complete the activity
Sue
My sister will come and stay when Harry's away on business.
When we find out if it's a boy or girl, we'll choose a name.
I'll start doing pregnancy yoga when I enter the second trimester.
When my waters break, I'll call the doctor straight away.
When our baby's born, I hope Harry will be there.
I'll sing the baby songs when I'm breastfeeding.
When the baby is eight weeks old, we'll put it in its own room to sleep.
when + will
All of the plans are in the first conditional and use when + will. We use the first conditional to talk about possible future situations (or 'conditions') and their results. In activity 1, you saw use 'if' for things we think are likely to happen. In Sue's plans she uses when for things she thinks are certain to happen.
A conditional sentence usually has two parts: the when part and the result (main) part. For the first conditional we use the present simple in the when part, and will + infinitive (without to) in the main part.
The two parts can be in any order. When the when part comes first, we put a comma between the when and the main part. We don't use a comma when the main part comes first.
When I get home, I'll cook dinner.
I'll cook dinner when I get home.
It's certain that I will get home. I will then cook dinner.
Negative
When I get home, I won’t watch TV.
We will not be here when you visit on Friday.
Question
When you finish school, what will you do?
How will he feel when he hears the bad news?
Download
You can download the audio here (size: 1MB).
Rearrange the sentence
7 Questions
Can you make sentences about the future with when + will? Organise the words into sentences. The first one is something Sue said. There are some words you don't need.
Help
Activity
Can you make sentences about the future with when + will? Organise the words into sentences. The first one is something Sue said. There are some words you don't need.
Hint
Make sure you use the infinitive of the verb after 'will'Question 1 of 7
Help
Activity
Can you make sentences about the future with when + will? Organise the words into sentences. The first one is something Sue said. There are some words you don't need.
Hint
Make sure you use the infinitive of the verb after 'will'Question 2 of 7
Help
Activity
Can you make sentences about the future with when + will? Organise the words into sentences. The first one is something Sue said. There are some words you don't need.
Hint
Use the present simple after 'when'Question 3 of 7
Help
Activity
Can you make sentences about the future with when + will? Organise the words into sentences. The first one is something Sue said. There are some words you don't need.
Hint
Use the present simple after 'when'. He is definitely going to bedQuestion 4 of 7
Help
Activity
Can you make sentences about the future with when + will? Organise the words into sentences. The first one is something Sue said. There are some words you don't need.
Hint
Which tense should the verbs be in?Question 5 of 7
Help
Activity
Can you make sentences about the future with when + will? Organise the words into sentences. The first one is something Sue said. There are some words you don't need.
Hint
Which tense should the verbs be in?Question 6 of 7
Help
Activity
Can you make sentences about the future with when + will? Organise the words into sentences. The first one is something Sue said. There are some words you don't need.
Hint
It's about the future - make sure you use a verbQuestion 7 of 7
Excellent!Great job!Bad luck!You scored:
Next
If you listen to 6 Minute Grammar, you'll have a better understanding of the first conditional. What are you waiting for - find the programme in the next activity!
Session Grammar
We use the first conditional to talk about future situations (or 'conditions') we think are certain and their results.
We make the first conditional with
if + present simple with will + infinitiveThe two parts of the sentence can be in any order.
When I get home, I'll cook dinner.
I'll cook dinner when I get home.
It's certain that I will get home. I will then cook dinner.
Negative
When I get home, I won’t watch TV.Question
When you finish school, what will you do?
Session Vocabulary
away on business
staying away from home for work reasonsyoga
a type of exercisetrimester
a period of three months - pregnancy has three trimesterswaters break
the first sign you are giving birthbreastfeeding
feed a baby with milk from the breast
