Condition
What must be true for this to happen or apply?
Betekenis
A condition makes one situation depend on another. It can describe a real possibility, a regular link, or a situation that is only imagined. Languages can use linking words or verb forms, and some leave the link to context without a separate condition marker. Unlike Imagined situations, Condition is about the link between two situations, not whether either one is real.
Zo herken je het
Find the situation that must hold for another event to happen or another statement to apply.
In de taal die je leert
English commonly introduces conditions with if; unless means if ... not. For an ordinary future possibility, the if-part usually uses a present tense even when the other part uses will. For a less likely or imagined situation, English often uses a past form after if and would followed by the verb's base form, its form without endings, in the other part.
If it rains tomorrow, we'll eat inside.
Rains is a present form, but tomorrow makes the future time clear.
You can't use the pool unless you're a guest.
Unless you're a guest means if you're not a guest.
If I had a bigger kitchen, I would buy a larger table.
Had describes an imagined situation now, not a past event.
Learners whose language uses future forms in both parts may put will after if for a simple future condition. Learners whose language marks imagined situations with a special verb ending may not recognize that the past form after if can refer to now or later.