The second conditional is a structure used to talk about impossible or imaginary situations.
If I won a lot of money I’d travel the world.
Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?
If he didn’t argue with everyone all the time, he would have a more relaxed life.
To form the second conditional we use: If+past simple and would+infinitive
It is not important which clause is first.
Here are conditional sentences:
If it’s a nice day tomorrow, we’ll go swimming. – THIS SITUATION IS POSSIBLE.
If I weren’t/wasn’t at work, I’d be on the beach. – THIS SITUATION IS IMAGINARY – the speaker is at work.
Many conditional sentences use if + will/would. However conditional sentences can also use other words instead of ‘if’ – ‘when’ ‘as soon as’ ‘in case’. Other modal verbs can be used instead of ‘will/would’ – ‘can/could’, ‘may’ ‘might’.