If statement problem

right now I'm trying to program a game. I have variables and then I have if statements to see if they are true. The problem is that the if statement

if ( "variable" = true){...} is MAKING the variable true and not just checking it. Is there some way to resolve this? Thank you

variable = true, is assignment

variable == true, is equality check

yeah, I remembered that right after I posted. Thanks you very much though for the speedy reply.