This business English lesson focuses on understanding and applying the third conditional to discuss past mistakes and hypothetical past scenarios, illustrated through real-world examples of international business challenges and leadership decisions.
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Hi everyone and welcome to today's
video. This is a B1 level business
English lesson and today we're going to
be continuing our discussion of cultural
differences in international business
and we'll be using the third conditional.
All right, so Gary and Iabo describe
mistakes they made at work and have you
ever had similar experiences? You can
pause the video and read this on your
own or you can follow along as I read
and then you can leave uh your answers
uh to that question in the comments. So
Gary says, "Last week I had to give a
presentation to an important client. I
arrived early and I waited for a long
time for the client to come. Eventually
my coworker came and told me the that
the client was waiting in room 203. I
was in room 302. The client wasn't happy
because I wasted her time. If I had
checked my schedule carefully, I would
have gone to the right room. Yabo says,
"Last month, I wanted a cup of coffee. I
couldn't find my cup, so I used my
colleagueu's cup instead. As I was
walking back to my desk, I dropped the
cup and it broke. I felt terrible. My
colleague was on vacation, so I worried
about it for a week." When I told him
about what had happened, he just
laughed. He said that he didn't like the
cup. If I had known that, I wouldn't
So look again at the if statements that
Gary and Yavo used and then answer the
questions. So if I had checked my
schedule carefully, I would have gone to
the right room. So did Gary check his
schedule carefully? No, he did not. And
did he go to the right room? No, he did
not. Yabo said, "If I had known that, I
wouldn't have worried about it." Did
Yabo know that her coworker didn't like
the cup? No, she didn't know that. And
did she worry about it? Yes, she did
So, we use the third conditional to talk
about imagined or unreal situations in
the past. A third conditional is always
used for an impossible situation because
it describes something in the past that
did not occur.
So if I had checked my schedule
carefully, I would have gone to the
right room. Gary didn't check his
schedule carefully and he didn't go to
the right room.
And Yabo, if I had known that, I
wouldn't have worried about it. So Yabo
didn't know that her coworker didn't
So now look carefully at how we form the
third conditionals. So in the if clause
it's if plus the past perfect which we
form by using had plus the past
participle. And then the result clause
is would have or would not have plus the
past participle. So if I had known that
I wouldn't have worried about it. If I
had checked my schedule carefully I
would have gone to the right room. If
you hadn't run to the station, you would
have missed your train. If we hadn't
worked so hard, we wouldn't have
finished on time. We usually use would
in the result clause, but we can also
use could or might. If I had had more
So now match the sentence halves to make
a complete third conditional. But more
than one answer might be possible. So go
ahead and pause the video, try this on
your own, and then you can restart when
So if we had worked harder,
we would have finished earlier.
If I had seen you earlier,
I would have told you.
If they had prepared more, their
presentation would have been better.
If she had told us about the problem,
we could have helped her.
And if he hadn't sent the sales email,
we wouldn't have known about the sales figures.
Now complete the third conditionals
below using the correct forms of the
verbs in parentheses. You can pause the
video, try these on your own, and then
restart when you're ready to check your answers.
And
where the N is typing
trouble here. So if I hadn't studied
studied
computer science in college, I
I
would not have
become a software engineer.
If we
hadn't taken a risk with the project, we
If she
had known about the marketing
If we
had offered a lower price during the negotiation,
negotiation,
He would have
If I hadn't
hadn't
gotten the job, I
I would
would
Now, West Coast Beans is a popular US
coffee shop chain. Read the information
and discuss the questions. Again, you
can pause the video and read these on
your own, or you can follow along as I
read. West Coast Beans has coffee shops
all over the United States. It uses a
fast coffee approach, trying to get as
many customers in and out as possible.
It sells sweet, mild coffee mixed with
chocolate and ice cream. It mainly
targets younger customers and creates a
cool image. It is now trying to expand
to other countries. Now, do you think
West Coast beans will be successful
everywhere? What types of coffee shops
will be popular in other countries? And
what changes might West Coast Beans need
to make? You can answer those questions
Now, we're going to read the article and
um you can pause the video, read on your
own, or you can follow along as I read.
So, why did West Coast beans have
problems in the new market? West Coast
beans not a good fit. If a business
model works in one country, that doesn't
mean that it will work in another
country. West Coast Beans learned this
lesson when they tried to open their
famous coffee shops in Israel. When West
Coast Beans first entered the local
market, it formed a partnership with one
of the largest local companies, which
runs a chain of gas stations and
convenience stores. With their help,
they opened six stores in the capital
city. There was a big opportunity
because although there were hundreds of
local cafes in the city, there was no
market leader at the time. The problem
was that West Coast Beans did not change
its business model for the different
culture. West Coast Beans likes to serve
as many customers as possible. So, they
try to get customers in and out as fast
as possible. But the local customers
didn't like this. Local customers prefer
a slower coffee experience. They like to
sit down with their friends and have a
chat while slowly drinking a cup of
coffee. On top of that, West Coast Beans
didn't change their options to offer the
type of coffee that local people prefer.
Local cafes typically typically offer
Italianstyle drinks like espresso or
strong Turkish coffee. This is very
different from the type of coffee that
West Coast Means was trying to sell.
People believe that local cafes serve
better, stronger, and cheaper coffee
options than West Coast Beans. So, West
Coast Beans never became popular, and
they decided to close their stores there
after only 2 years. The losses would
So, after the failure to expand
internationally, the West Coast beans
team meets to discuss what happened. So
make some third conditional sentences
about what happened. So here is one. If
we had done more market research, we
would have been better prepared to enter
the local market. Um and then you can
complete the rest of these in uh the
comments with your ideas from the article.
All right. Now listen to Josh talking
with his boss. Um I'm not sure how to
say that. uh Ki Tanaka about the team's
recent performance. Decide if the
>> Good afternoon, Josh.
>> Good afternoon, Mr. Tanaka.
>> Before we begin, I just want to say congratulations.
congratulations.
Your division had very good results this
quarter. So, nice job.
>> Thanks, Mr. Tanaka. I'm very proud of
all our hard work, especially the work
of Shinji Otani and Hiroshi Yamada. To
recognize their hard work, I've made
some changes to our sales team. I've
created team leaders in each group. I
promoted Mr. Otani and Mr. Yamada to
lead their teams. Both of them have
performed great work recently and I
think this will help the teams to
perform even better. I met with everyone
this morning and told them the news.
>> Thanks for letting me know. I hope that
decision helps the teams to have even
>> Hey, so Mr. Tanaka, they didn't tell us
how to say his name, um is unhappy with
Josh's results. That's false. He said
that the results were very good and he
was happy with them. Josh has decided to
appoint new leaders because of their
hard work. That's true. And Josh thinks
the changes will help the team to
So Josh has decided to appoint new
leaders. Was this the right decision?
And then you can answer these questions
in the comments. How important do you
think choosing leaders is? What effect
can a good leader have on a team? And
what issues can choosing the wrong
Okay. Three months later, Josh again
meets with Mr. Tanaka. So, listen to the
conversation and then answer the questions.
>> Let's look together at your results. The
numbers have decreased almost 20% from
last quarter. What happened?
>> I don't know. I thought that introducing
team leaders would increase sales, but
it seems that it had the opposite
effect. I think that I might have chosen
the wrong people to lead the teams. I
can choose new team leaders.
>> You can select new leaders if you think
that will help, but the men that you
chose were two of our best employees.
When you made them team leaders, it
might have had an effect on the harmony
of the group. In Japan, we work hard for
the group, not for one person.
>> You were right.
I guess I shouldn't have made any changes.
>> Hey, so what has happened since the sale
to the sales figure since last quarter?
Well, they went down by I believe he
said 20%.
What does Josh think was the reason for
this? He thinks he chose the wrong
people as leaders. And how does Mr.
Tanaka explained what happened? He
thinks that choosing leaders damaged the
harmony of the group. And what do you
think Josh should have done before
appointing the new leaders? And you can
answer that question uh in the comments
So think about what happened. Make third
conditional sentences to describe how
things could have been different.
So here we have an example. If the sales
figures hadn't been good, um, it says
John, but his name was Josh. Josh
wouldn't have wanted to reward two
members of the team. And if he hadn't
wanted to reward them, he wouldn't have
decided to make them leaders. And if so,
then continue it on with using third
Now, read about Jattow's day and use
some third conditionals to describe how
things could have been different.
And here they've gotten you started. If
Jatau had set his alarm clock, he
wouldn't have woken up late. And if he
hadn't woken up late, he wouldn't have
missed the bus. And if he hadn't missed
the bus, and then you continue with the
last two.
And here's another bad day, Sakai's bad
day. Um, so again, use third
conditionals to describe how things
could have been different. And that
brings us to the end of today's video.
Please like, subscribe, share, uh,
participate in the comments, and I will
see you next time. Thanks for watching. Bye.
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