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Silversamand Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

substituting "Were" or "Was" when using "I" subject

Sometimes i see that in contexts alternatively use Was instead of were and sometimes vice versa

for Example " I wish i were in his shoes.....

or " if i were there i could solve problems ....

and etc...

please illuminate me about this grammer

thanks
  

Top answer

When you use the conditional, you should use "were" , in both examples you gave, the "were" was used in conditional, I wish I were you .... but I'm not you in reality, so that's why were was used. also in the second example you used "if", which means that it's not a fact, so it's the conditional again.

— Linguanaut

  • When you use the conditional, you should use "were" , in both examples you gave, the "were" was used in conditional, I wish I were you ....
  • but I'm not you in reality, so that's why were was used.
  • also in the second example you used "if", which means that it's not a fact, so it's the conditional again.
  • Outside the conditional you still should or better use "were" in some places like, like the past of "to be", except (I was + he/she was) the rest should be used with "were", you were, we were, they were.
  • maybe there are some other places where you should use "were" but I don't remember them now, other than that you should just use "was".
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2 Answers
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When you use the conditional, you should use "were" , in both examples you gave, the "were" was used in conditional, I wish I were you .... but I'm not you in reality, so that's why were was used.

also in the second example you used "if", which means that it's not a fact, so it's the conditional again.

Outside the conditional you still should or better use "were" in some places
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I think "were" in "If I were you" is a subjunctive mood... It's exactly the same as the simple past, except for "to be" in the 1st and the 3rd person (sing.): "were" instead of "was".
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