Our last point is the third conditional. The third conditional is used when we want to talk about past events that are different to what really happened. Look at the example: If the economic situation had been better, we would not have lost so many customers. When we say if the economic situation had been better, we imply that the economic situation was bad in the past, and now, we want to imagine a different past, a good economic situation, and a different result, not losing our customers. The verb in the if clause is in the past perfect. The main clause has would have and a past participle form. We can also use could or might instead of would to change certainty.