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Khusainov Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

past simple or present

"I remembered to lock the door when I left."The sentence is taken from English book, that is why I'm sure that it is grammatically right, but I don't understand why 'left' not 'leave'. I think after 'when' we must use present simple.
  

Top answer

You can use any tense after when , my friend. You may be thinking of the use of when with another future action, such as When I go to Moscow, I will visit GUM. There are languages in which the future tense would be used if the first clause as well.

— Philip

  • You can use any tense after when , my friend.
  • You may be thinking of the use of when with another future action, such as When I go to Moscow, I will visit GUM.
  • There are languages in which the future tense would be used if the first clause as well.
  • If Russian is one of those, that could be the reason for your confusion.
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4 Answers
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You can use any tense after when, my friend. You may be thinking of the use of when with another future action, such as When I go to Moscow, I will visit GUM. There are languages in which the future tense would be used if the first clause as well. If Russian is one of those, that could be the reason for your confusion.
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The sentence is correct because both "remember" and "leave" happened in the past. Here, "when" means "at the same time."
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khusainovafter 'when' we must use present simple.
Not always.

Present.

When I leave, I always remember to lock the door.
You should wear a coat when you go outdoors in winter.
When I arrive in London, I'll call you.

Past.

I remembered to lock the door when I left.
The criminals ran away when the police arrived.
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