Tonight’s singer loves a man who is with another woman, and that woman doesn’t treat him well. She sings: if I were your woman, things would be different.
Learn from Songs · Unit 9b: Second conditional · B1
If I Were Your Woman
Gladys Knight’s passionate soul classic: the second conditional (If I were your woman, I’d never…), were for all persons, would never / would always, and the difference between first and second conditionals, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
DEMETRIA
Poor thing. Does he ever notice her?
SOPHIA
We don’t know. But listen to her imagine it, line after line: I would… I would… I would never…
MARCOS
Lots of woulds.
Before you listen: the song
Detroit, 1970
Gladys Knight began singing in church in Atlanta at the age of four, and with her brother and cousins formed the Pips. In the 1960s they joined Motown in Detroit, where they recorded “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” before Marvin Gaye did.
“If I Were Your Woman” was written by Clay McMurray, Pam Sawyer and Gloria Jones. In 1970 it went to number one on the R&B chart and into the top ten in America. Gladys Knight’s voice starts soft and builds to a cry, and many singers have recorded it since.
In the song, she loves a man who belongs to someone else. She imagines: if she were his woman, she would give him everything, and she would never stop loving him.
Love sees what others don’t.
Listen: the imaginary life
PHILO
Listen once. What would she do if she were his woman? How does her voice change?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A.
💗 Listen to the song: “If I Were Your Woman” (Clay McMurray, Pam Sawyer and Gloria Jones, 1970), by Gladys Knight & the Pips.Find the recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “If I Were Your Woman”, Gladys Knight & the Pips.Read the lyrics →
Second conditional with were
MARCOS
If I were your woman, I’d love you. If he were rich, he’d buy a ship.
SOPHIA
In the second conditional, were is used for all persons: If I were, if she were, if it were. In conversation many people say if I was, but in exams and careful writing use were, especially in If I were you.
Would never, would always
DEMETRIA
I’d never make you cry. I’d always be there. I wouldn’t let you go.
SOPHIA
never / always go between would and the verb: would never + infinitive, would always + infinitive. Negative: wouldn’t.
First or second?
PHILO
If it rains tomorrow, we’ll stay in. (It might rain.) If it rained gold, we’d be rich. (Impossible!)
SOPHIA
First conditional (present + will): a real possibility. Second conditional (past + would): imaginary or very unlikely. The choice shows how possible you think it is: If I win (I might!) / If I won (I probably won’t).
Sophia’s comparison: Leah and Sappho
PHILO
Leah loved Jacob, but Jacob loved her sister Rachel. Every time she had a son, she named him with a hope: now my husband will love me.
SOPHIA
And Sappho wrote of watching the girl she loved sitting with a man: he seems to me equal to the gods, that man who sits opposite you and listens to your sweet voice. Her heart, she says, was shaking in her chest.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| If I / he / she / it were… | second conditional with be | If I were your woman… |
| would / ’d + infinitive | imaginary result | I’d love you for ever. |
| would never / would always | position of never, always | I’d never let you down. |
| If + present, will | first: real possibility | If it rains, we’ll stay in. |
| If + past, would | second: imaginary | If it rained gold, we’d be rich. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. Who does the singer love?
2. What does she imagine?
3. How does her voice change?
4. Who are the Pips?
5. Where did the chart success come?
6. Which famous song did they record before Marvin Gaye?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. If I your woman, I’d love you. (be)
8. I’d make you cry. (not ever)
9. If he were rich, he buy a ship.
10. If it tomorrow, we’ll stay in. (rain)
11. If it gold, we’d all be rich. (rain)
12. I let you go. (would not)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “If I would be you, I’d stop.”
14. “I’d always be there for you.”
15. “I never would forget.”
16. “If I win tomorrow, I’ll buy you a present.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
If I were… Finish these sentences for yourself and compare: If I were an animal…, If I were a teacher…, If I were invisible for a day…
Discuss. 1. Is it wise to love someone who doesn’t notice you? 2. Why are so many love songs about imaginary situations? 3. What would you change if you were in charge of your town?
Write (100–120 words). If I were… Choose a person, an animal or an object. Write what you would do and wouldn’t do, using were, would always and would never.
Now play the gamebook: a painter who doesn’t notice, and a girl who does.Play the gamebook →