"he met" or "he had met"

Question

He married my sister, who(m) he met at the hospital.

Q1. Can this sentence mean like he met my sister and then he married? Or should we say, "He married my sister, who(m) he had met at the hospital?" to mean that?

Q2. If we say "He married my sister, who(m) he met at the hospital," doesn't this sound like "He met my sister, and then he met her at the hospital?"

Q3. If we say "He married my sister, who(m) he saw at the hospital," can this sentence mean like he saw my sister and then he married?
(I think the verb "met" has a connotation that he met her for the first time at the hospital.")

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

hagoQ1. Can this sentence mean like he met my sister and then he married?

Yes. It's really difficult to marry someone that you haven't met yet.

hagoOr should we say, "He married my sister, who(m) he had met at the hospital?" to mean that?

You can definitely say that, but it's unnecessary because our common sense tells us that he met her before they got married.

hagoQ2. If we say "He married my sister, who(m) he met at the hospital," doesn't this sound like "He met my sister, and then he met her at the hospital?"

No. It doesn't sound anything like that.

hagoQ3. If we say "He married my sister, who(m) he saw at the hospital," can this sentence mean like he saw my sister and then he married?

That sentence can mean that, but it's very unlikely that any native speaker would think of interpreting it that way. This sentence says

He married my sister. By the way, he saw her at the hospital ( [yesterday / last week / ...] ).

It's not a sentence that anyone is likely to say.

hagoI think the verb "met" has a connotation that he met her for the first time at the hospital.

Just "met" doesn't say anything about a hospital, but it can certainly mean "for the first time", and that's what it means in the examples you provided in your post here.

CJ

"he met" or "he had met"

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