It is very important when we write in any language to create logical relationships between the ideas that we present. There is a number of relationships that we can create like addition, contrast, among others, and there are many words and expressions that we can use to express these relationships. In this post, I present some words and expressions that we can use to express the relationship of condition in Arabic. In English, this is expressed by ‘if’.

In Arabic, we have three words that mean ‘if’, i.e. (إن وإذا ولو). It is very important to know the constructions that can occur with them. Generally speaking, the condition clause is in the past tense, and the other one is future. Consider the following examples:

إن تأخرت على الصف، فلن تفهم الدرس.

“If you were late for the class, you would not understand the lesson.”

إذا ذهبت مشياً على الأقدام، فستتأخر.

“If you go on foot, you will be late.”

When giving advice where we can use the present tense after the conditional, for example:

إن تذاكر، تنجح.

“If you study, you will succeed!”

We use (لو) for hypothetical situations, and it is usually used with two past tense sentences

لو كنت غنياً، لاشتريت سيارة جديدة.

“If I were rich, I would buy a new car.”