Apodosis

Apodosis is a term used in grammar to denote the main clause of a conditional sentence—the clause that states the result or consequence if the condition in the protasis is true. The protasis is the conditional clause that presents the hypothetical situation, typically introduced by if, whereas the apodosis expresses what follows from that condition.

The form of the apodosis varies with the type of conditional. In the zero conditional, both clauses present general truths and the apodosis uses the present simple: If you heat ice, it melts. In a first conditional, used for real future possibilities, the apodosis is in the future: If it rains, we will stay indoors. In a second conditional, describing unreal present or future scenarios, the apodosis uses would + base verb: If I won the lottery, I would travel the world. In a third conditional, dealing with past unreality, the apodosis uses would have + past participle: If he had studied, he would have passed.

The term apodosis is common in grammatical descriptions; the corresponding clause is the protasis. In English, the apodosis often follows the protasis with a comma, and the word “then” may be used but is frequently omitted. The concept helps in analyzing sentence structure and translating conditional sentences across languages.