else if two lines instead of one line

I just need to know that if you do an else if on two lines does it still perform the same as an else if on one line?

a bunch of ifs then.....

else if(somecondition here) {
//do some stuff here
}

does the below code perform the same as above?

else
  if(somecondition here) {
//do some stuff here
}

OR does it perform as an ELSE by itself then goes into the if after all else, like a normal else statement would.