if / conditional

Question

Hi,Please correct me if my interpretations are wrong:"If I parked here would the police arrest me?" (I actually have no intention to park here whatsoever. I am just asking an entirely hypothetical question.)"If I park here would the police arrest me?" (I may actually be considering parking here and want to know what the result will be if I do)I am not sure if the rules of conditional sentences apply to questions.Thank you.

GPY · Accepted Answer

The best aligned sentences are:

"If I parked here would the police arrest me?"
"If I park here will the police arrest me?"

SuperESL · Answer

Thanks, but is my understanding of the difference between 'parked' and 'park' correct - that the former indicates 'I am actully not parking here or have no intention to park here' while the latter 'it is probable that I may want to park here'?

GPY · Answer

SuperESLThanks, but is my understanding of the difference between 'parked' and 'park' correct - that the former indicates 'I am actully not parking here or have no intention to park here' while the latter 'it is probable that I may want to park here'?

The former is more hypothetical/abstract and the latter is more direct/immediate. For example, if you are driving your car and you arrive at a place, and you are wondering whether it is safe to park there, then you might use the latter. However, the contrast in this case is slightly muddied by the use of the word "here", which is itself immediate, and seems to be referring to the situation I described regardless of "park"/"parked". A better contrast might be with "If I parked there, would the police arrest me?", talking in a more abstract way about a place that has been mentioned but does not immediately present itself as a parking opportunity.

SuperESL · Answer

I don't know why but I oftn associate the whole issue of 'real conditional / unreal conditional' with the intention of the writer / speaker. Somehow I have the impression that you use the 'unreal past' when you want to refer to something hypothetical, an action that you do not intend to carry out or could not possibly carry out in the present ('If I parked here' = 'if I was / were to park here').

I suppose if you are over here and was wondering whether to park over there then "if I parked there" can only be right since you are in fact over here and cannot possibly be parking over there at this very moment, simultaneously, thus the act of parking over there can only be hypothetical, something to take place in the future. But then one can of course also say 'if I park there.' The question remains for me is what is the difference between 'if I parked there' and 'if I park there'? Why use the unreal past tense at all?

I hope I am making sense.

Thanks.

GPY · Answer

SuperESLThe question remains for me is what is the difference between 'if I parked there' and 'if I park there'? Why use the unreal past tense at all?

If the action is truly impossible, e.g. if "there" refers to Mars, then you must use "parked". If the action is known to happen or to have happened then you must use "park", e.g. "If (~when) I park there, I get a ticket". Between these is a spectrum of cases with no clear-cut dividing line. In many situations both may be possible (with appropriate adjustment to the tenses used in other parts of the sentence), with the general principle that "parked" has a "more hypothetical" nuance.

if / conditional

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