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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Zero Conditional in the past tense?
Hi
As a native speaker I find the concept of explaining conditionals a little confusing.
Why is it that the zero conditional must be in the present tense?
When it rains I get wet. - zero condtional
When it rained I got wet.....is this no longer the zero conditional? I mean the result of getting wet was still subject to it raining?
Is there a rule that says for it to be a conditional 'when' must be able to be substituted with'if' which of course would count out the past tense?
thanks, I love having somewhere to ask these things
As a native speaker I find the concept of explaining conditionals a little confusing.
Why is it that the zero conditional must be in the present tense?
When it rains I get wet. - zero condtional
When it rained I got wet.....is this no longer the zero conditional? I mean the result of getting wet was still subject to it raining?
Is there a rule that says for it to be a conditional 'when' must be able to be substituted with'if' which of course would count out the past tense?
thanks, I love having somewhere to ask these things
Top answer
Conditional is just that: it sets forth a condition which may or may not ever come to pass. With 'when it rained, I got wet', however, it rained. And you got wet.
- Conditional is just that: it sets forth a condition which may or may not ever come to pass.
- With 'when it rained, I got wet', however, it rained.
- And you got wet.
- Not a conditional, but a factual past event.
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1 Answers
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Conditional is just that: it sets forth a condition which may or may not ever come to pass. With 'when it rained, I got wet', however, it rained. And you got wet. Not a conditional, but a factual past event.
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