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I wonder, whether it is grammatically correct to say "it would be great if you could do this for me"? I'm aware of the second conditional's existence, though I don't want to imply the meaning "it is very unlikely you can do this", just ask for a favour very politely. So, here is the list of possible options:

  • (1) It will be great, if you can do this
  • (2) It would be great, if you can do this
  • (3) It would be great if you could do this for me

I, personally, don't trust that much in the second one, and it seems ungramamtical for me, but I can remember for sure the line from "Lion King" movie (1994) that is: "I would if you just tell me" (as a respond to " Listen, you think you can just show up and tell me how to live my life? You don't even know what I've been through!", if it is important), and that confuses me a bit. As for the first one, I'm pretty much sure that it is correct, but I'm not satisfied with its meaning, because I want to give "more freedom" to the person and emphasize that any choice is equally acceptable.

So, I will be very glad if someone can comment the grammatical correctness of the last two items.

Any suggestion will be helpful! Thank you in advance!

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No.3 is certainly preferable at first glance. Strangely the use of the future tense will in your first case is not normal usage, even though we are talking about a future event!

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  • But could you make it a bit more clear? My first variant is ungrammatical or just odd-sounding, and if so, why? Does this also mean that the second variant sounds normal?
    – Sasha Mayer
    May 4, 2019 at 2:34

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