if

Meanings

1. 1
   conj

   Used to say that something will happen or be true only when another thing happens.

   If it rains, we will stay at home.

2. 2
   conj

   Whether; used to introduce an indirect question.

   I don't know if I want to go or not.

3. 3
   conj

   Used with the past tense to talk about something imaginary or unreal.

   If she hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known.

From Middle English if, yif, yef, from Old English ġif (“if”), from Proto-West Germanic *jabu, *jabē, from Proto-Germanic *jabai (“when, if”). Cognate with Scots gif (“if, whether”), Saterland Frisian af, of (“if, whether”), West Frisian oft (“whether”), Dutch of (“or, whether, but”), Middle Low German ef, if, af, of ("if; whether"; > German Low German of), German ob (“if, whether”), Icelandic ef (“if”).

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