conditional..

Question

Fact: I don't have a girlfriend.A. Even if I have a girl friend, I wouldn't let people know that.B. Even if I had a girl friend, I wouldn't let people know that.C. Even if I have a girl friend, I won't let people know that.D. Even if I had a girl friend, I won't let people know that.Are all of those above sentences grammatically correct? Please let me know which one is correct. Thank you!

Englishmaven · Accepted Answer

Only B is correct.

Seung Chul Go · Answer

Hi, thanks for your answer! ,

I wanna slightly change my question:

Q. What if the subject is "She", but not "I"? , (Fact: I don't even know whether she's got a boyfriend or not.)
In this case, which one should I use?

A. Even if she has a boyfriend, she won't let people know.
B. Even if she had a boyfriend, she wouldn't let people know.
C. Even if she has a boyfriend, she wouldn't let people know. ( Q: Apart from the fact, is it grammatically okay to mix a present simple form(has) and a conditional form(would)? )
D. Even if she had a boyfriend, she won't let people know.

Thank you once again!

CalifJim · Answer

Seung Chul GoFact: I don't have a girlfriend.

It's irrelevant whether you have a girlfriend or don't have a girlfriend or don't know if someone has or doesn't have a girlfriend. The tenses used in conditional statements are the same in any case.

IF present, IMPERATIVE. If you want a piece of candy, take it.
IF present, present. If I have time in the evening, I watch some TV.
IF present, WILL. If the light switch breaks, we will fix it.
IF past, WOULD. If Patricia got sick, I would take her place.
IF past perfect, WOULD HAVE. If he had known how to speak English, I would have hired him.
________

So technically, B and C are correct in your first question because they have the correct sequence of tenses. Nevertheless, C is not as good with "even if" because that combination (like "although") so often introduces a clause of concession, which means that "Even if I have a girlfriend" can be taken to mean that you concede that it is true that you have a girlfriend. I recommend that you work more with "If" than with "Even if" at first.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Seung Chul GoI wanna

You need to spell out "I want to" in writing, even if you pronounce it as "wanna".

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Seung Chul GoWhat if the subject is "She", but not "I"?

That makes no difference. In your second question both A and B are technically correct, but A isn't as good. See what I wrote above.

Seung Chul Gois it grammatically okay to mix a present simple form(has) and a conditional form(would)?

I'll say "No", even though you may find that mix on a rare occasion. That's why the pattern

IF present, WOULD

is not listed above.

CJ

Seung Chul Go · Answer

@CalifJimThank you for your clarification!

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