Zero and First Conditional - A2 Grammar Rules and Exercises

Exercises

The Zero Conditional is used to describe general truths, scientific facts, routines, and things that always happen when a condition is met.

It expresses cause and effect.

Structure: If + Present Simple, Present Simple

This conditional does not talk about the future — it talks about situations that are always true.

Examples:

Tip:
We often use when instead of if in Zero Conditional when something happens regularly.

The First Conditional talks about real and possible future situations. We use it when something may happen if a condition is true.

Structure: If + Present Simple, will + base form of the verb

We often use it to make predictions, decisions, warnings, promises, and offers.

Examples:

Feature	Zero Conditional	First Conditional
Meaning	Facts, rules, routines	Real future possibilities
Time	Always / generally true	Likely future
Form	If + Present → Present	If + Present → Will + verb
Example	If ice melts, it becomes water.	If you call me later, I will help you.

We can use unless instead of if not
Unless you eat, you will feel weak.
(= If you do not eat, you will feel weak.)
We can also begin with the result clause:
You will get wet if you forget your umbrella.
Commas:
When the sentence starts with if, we use a comma after the first clause:
If you press this button, the computer turns on.

Learning these structures helps you express cause and effect, give advice, discuss science and rules, and talk about future plans.