Entertainment

Lyrics: If I Were a Boy

Listening 4 min Lyrics Intermediate

Vocabulary - 18 contextual words

Grammar - 'If' + Second Conditional

Pronunciation - American

Improve your listening and writing skills by filling in the blanks in the song lyrics. These activities are designed for Beginners and Intermediates to learn new vocabulary related to a specific topic in a quick and fun way.

If I Were a Boy was an incredibly popular song by Beyonce when it was first released in 2008 and it is still a popular song today and a great way to hear the Second Conditional in use.

Exercise

Fill in the missing words: – I’d- phone – could – Until – they’d -with – I’d – were – go- bed – her – she’d – You – be – had – everything- don’t – like. ⇩

This activity is case sensitive so make sure to use capital letters when needed.

Grammar

‘If’ + second conditional

We use the second conditional to talk about unreal situations in the present or future.
We often use this structure with unlikely or hypothetical situations.

We use the structure if + subject + past simple; subject + would + verb. We can also exchange the if and would clauses:

If we were rich, we would travel the world.
If Sam was smarter, he would own the company by now.
You would help me if I needed you.
Elizabeth and Francis would make us work harder if they were the managers.
If I were baking a cake, I would burn it.

We make this structure negative when we place not between if and the subject, would and the subject, or in both places:

If you weren’t short, you would be a basketball star.
If Rachel wasn’t kind, she wouldn’t have so many friends.
I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t care about you.
We would own a home if the bank didn’t deny our loan application.

We make this structure interrogative when we place would + subject + past simple; if + subject + verb.

We use this structure to ask questions about unreal or unlikely situations:

Would they help us if we needed them?
Would everyone escape this building if it was burning?
Would Tristan have married Rachel if he hadn’t met Macy instead?
If you were an animal, would you be a bear?
If I was sick, would you visit me in the hospital?