I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. Third conditional

I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself

The correct sentence is: ✔ “I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself.” Why? This is a third conditional sentence, which is used to talk about hypothetical situations in the past. Structure of the third conditional: If + past perfect → would have + past participle However, in this case, we use “wouldn’t believe” instead of “would have believed,” making it a mixed conditional. • “Hadn’t seen” (past perfect) refers to something that did happen in the past (you did see it). • “Wouldn’t believe” (conditional) refers to the present (you believe it now because you saw it). Why are the other sentences incorrect? ❌ “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it myself.” • This is a second conditional structure (if + past simple → would + base verb), which is used for hypothetical situations in the present or future, not the past. • The correct version for present situations would be: • “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it right now myself.” ❌ “I wouldn’t believe it if I haven’t seen it myself.” • This mixes a conditional structure with the present perfect, which is grammatically incorrect. • “If I haven’t seen it” suggests a real present or past action, but “wouldn’t believe” makes it hypothetical, creating a mismatch.

3 is correct 2 is incorrect 1 I'm actually not sure about. A lot of native speakers might say it this way, but I think it is technically incorrect. So, if you're trying to which one to use as a model, use 3.

# 2 incorrect