Within the framework of cognitive semantics and cognitive-heuristic approach to translation, the article discusses various structures with the conjunction if, belonging to different grammatical levels and having different graphical length. The study is conducted using various works written by English authors, and their translations into Russian. The aim of the study was to investigate and systematize the semantic capacity of various formally conditional structures with the conjunction if in the cognitive context, develop a classification of these structures based on their meanings and study the regularities of their translation into Russian. The article analyzes traditional approaches to these structures, their grammatical status, the meanings expressed and their translation. Based on the analysis in context, a conclusion is drawn that such structures do not express the conditional meaning, therefore they are denoted as pseudo-conditional. The author lists pseudo-conditional structures and suggests a classification based on their functions. Four main functions are identified: limiting function, intensification function, identification function and the function of expressing the fullness of quality. Within the four main functions additional meanings are identified, for instance, the meaning of assumption and that of contrast. In accordance with the meanings expressed by one or another of the structures, the paper discusses possible variants of translating them into Russian. The analysis of the translation variants shows that the translators are mainly guided by contextualized meanings of the structures although there are occasions of formal linguistic approach to the translation of the structures in question or complete misunderstanding of the meaning expressed by them. The study confirms the relevance of the cognitive-heuristic approach to translation aimed at the contextual meaning and the naturalness of the translation variants rather than the formal properties of the linguistic units.