Expression "if I were you"
Hi you all, I am confused about the expression "If I were you" I do not understand why it is used "were" instead "was", because of the conjugation of I is was, not were, but I have heard that so much. Anyone can explain why? thank you!
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Expression "if I were you"
Hi you all, I am confused about the expression "If I were you" I do not understand why it is used "were" is used instead of "was", because of the conjugation of I is was, not were, but I have heard that so much. Can anyone can explain why? Thank you!As Simone explained, it's essentially because it uses the subjunctive mood, which is much less common in English than in Spanish. Here we are talking about a hypothetical situation (you cannot actually be someone else).
By the way, I see you're picking up some Texan expressions (Hi you all, or Hi y'all as they say there ;-)
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'If I were you' is used when we use the 2nd conditional which refers to present or future situations . Time: Present; the TENSE is past, but we are talking about the present, now.
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Thank you!
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Technically speaking, it is not the past simple you're using, but the subjunctive. Subjunctive conjugated in the same way as the past simple, BUT for the verb to be, whose subjunctive is "I were, you were, he were, ecc". Subjunctive is only used in conditional forms, and that's why it is usually not mentioned and it is said that past simple is used.
Long story short, it's just an exception. It has a confusing (as well as useless) grammatical explanation that really isn't of any interest to any English learner.
PS: The "would+bare infinitive" form is also referred to as Subjuncitve.
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