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Pleasehelp Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

I had conditional sentence?

I didn't know I had to stay up all night for one of these sleep clinics.

Would this be a conditional sentence even though it doesn't start with if, because it has the verb had included?

thanks!
  

Top answer

No. 'Have to + infinitive' is a semiauxiliary verb. It has nothing to do with the conditional.

— Mister Micawber

  • No.
  • 'Have to + infinitive' is a semiauxiliary verb.
  • It has nothing to do with the conditional.
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12 Answers
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No. 'Have to + infinitive' is a semiauxiliary verb. It has nothing to do with the conditional.
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So the had to implies that the sentence is past tense?
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It is not an implication; it is explicitly a past tense.
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Mister MicawberNo. 'Have to + infinitive' is a semiauxiliary verb. It has nothing to do with the conditional.

Wait, shouldn't had be have because of didn't?
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pleasehelpI didn't know I had to stay up all night for one of these sleep clinics.
MM,

So this sentence explicitly means: She stayed up all night for the sleep clinic not knowing she had to? But how could she have stayed up all night if she didn't know?
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Please exercise your common sense, PH. Statements do not become illogical just because they are in another language. Think about what would be a reasonable meaning for the sentence.
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This sentence means that: She stayed up all night for a sleep clinic but didn't know she had to?
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Or that she didn't know she had to stay up all night for a sleep clinic?

I'm having trouble with:

I didn't know I had to do that...
and
I didn't know I have to do that....

One's in the past and the other is in the present right?

But I thought sometimes we use had for other reasons...like hypothetical or conditional sentences?
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A: You have to get a visa to visit China.
B: Oh. I didn't know I had to do that.
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It's just that simple huh?

So there's not another way of using had...besides the if I had a $100 bucks. Then that'd be a conditional sentence. Right?
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