Usage of when and if

Question

"When we were younger, I would have done anything to be with her."

I saw this sentence and I was wondering if this is okay to use or when should be if or when can be used for conditionals? And then what is the difference between when and if in meaning?

Thank you so much as usual and have a good day.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

'When' = 'if' in zero-conditionals. This is as subtle as I perceive it:

When we were younger, I would have done anything to be with her -- An observation about the past
If we were younger, I would have done anything to be with her -- A view from present circumstances

Hans51 · Answer

Thank you so much and this is a subtitle of The Great Gatsby and in my book, it was interpreted as a conditional like a if clause ,so 'I would have done anything to be with her' implies that he didn't do anything to be with her in reality, right? And the sentence implies his wish, doesn't it? Or he is saying that he did something to be with her when he was younger? I am sorry about not understanding your explanation well.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Hans51so 'I would have done anything to be with her' implies that he didn't do anything to be with her in reality, right?

No. It only tell us about his motivation and desires, not what he actually did or did not do.
He might have been with her a lot of the time, it doesn't say this one way or the other.
He is saying that no matter what she did, he would have done anything to be where she was. eg.
If she had joined the Peace Corps and went to Timbuktu, he would have gone there too.
If she went to the moon on a spaceship, he would have trained to be an astronaut, and gone there, too.
Perhaps even if she killed herself, he would have done the same so he could be with her in heaven.

Grammarfreak · Answer

This is my take on your question. I don't know where you saw this sesntence from, but it is not a correct " conditioanl " sentence based on the traditional conditional grammar rules because "when " is not part of the conditional structure. I have a question about " when we were younger, I would have done....". If this is something you had done just to be with her in your younger days, then you need to say " when I was younger, I would do anything just to be with her ". But I'd be hesitant to call this "conditional". If - always suggests "condition". To avoid mixed context, we should keep the correct conditional to express the intended meaning. Since the main clause was " I would have done anything to be with her", the required "if " clause should be " If I had been younger ". This is counter-factual, improbable, type 3 condition. Type 2 is possible: If I were younger, I would do anything to be with her .". However,type 1 doesn't work in this context because semantically, we can't say " if I am younger, I will do anything to be with her". The logic is, if you are 50, you will never be younger, so it must be expressed in "improbable- type 2" or " conter-factual - type 3" condition.

One more comment... It is correct to say " When we were younger, we would do anything to be with each other". This is a sentence reflecting what you had done which is a statement rather than a condition. That's how I see it.

Usage of when and if

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