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if … will

Examples
  • I’ll give you £100 if it will help you to get home.
  • If Anna won’t be here, we’d better cancel the meeting.
  • I don’t know if I’ll be ready in time.
  • If you will come this way …
  • If you will eat so much …

We normally use a present tense with if (and most other conjunctions) to refer to the future (see here).

  • I’ll phone you if I have time. (not … if I will have time.)

But in certain situations we use if … will.

Results​

We use will with if to talk about what will happen because of possible future actions – to mean ‘if this will be the later result’. Compare:

  • I’ll give you £100 if I win the lottery. (Winning the lottery is a condition – it must happen first.)
    I’ll give you £100 if it’ll help you to get home. (The return home is a result – it follows the gift of money.)
  • We’ll go home now if you get the car. (condition)
    We’ll go home now if it will make you feel better. (result)

‘If it is true now that …’​

We use will with if when we are saying ‘if it is true now that …’ or ‘if we know now that …’.

  • If Anna won’t be here on Thursday, we’d better cancel the meeting.
  • If prices will really come down in a few months, I’m not going to buy one now.

Indirect questions: I don’t know if …​

We can use will after if in indirect questions (see here).

  • I don’t know if I’ll be ready in time. (not … if I’m ready in time.)

Polite requests: If you will come this way …​

We can use if + will in polite requests. In this case, will is not a future auxiliary; it means ‘are willing to’ (see here).

  • If you will come this way, I’ll show you your room.
  • If your mother will complete this form, I’ll prepare her ticket.

Would can be used to make a request even more polite.

  • If you would come this way …

Insistence: If you WILL eat so much …​

Stressed will can be used after if to criticise people’s habits or choices.

  • If you WILL eat so much, it’s not surprising you feel ill. (= ‘If you insist on eating so much …’)