Why present and past tense is used for future [Predator movie, 1987]
At the very beginning of the movie Dillon is describing the future operation. He uses present and past tense:
"A simple setup. One-day operation. We *pick* up their trail at the chopper, *run* 'em down, *grab* those hostages and *bounce* back across the border before anybody knows we *were* there."

He should be using "We will pick up..." and "...before anybody knows we have been there", no?

Question

Why present and past tense is used for future [Predator movie, 1987]
At the very beginning of the movie Dillon is describing the future operation. He uses present and past tense:
"A simple setup. One-day operation. We *pick* up their trail at the chopper, *run* 'em down, *grab* those hostages and *bounce* back across the border before anybody knows we *were* there."

He should be using "We will pick up..." and "...before anybody knows we have been there", no?

Answer

В русском точно так же "мы берём их след на вертушке, загоняем, отбиваем заложников и перепрыгиваем через границу до того, как кто-то узнает, что мы там были" -- где в русском будущее?

Answer

He's describing the plan, which already exists. He's not describing the actual operation which will happen in the future. The operation may not actually turn out as planned. The use of past tense after "before" is a type of "real conditional" -- it's a back-shifted form of the future real conditional "we will... before they know...."

Answer

You could say it either way. When he's saying those verbs, it's implied that he's speaking about the future, without saying "will".  When he says "... before anybody knows that we were there", it's still future tense because he's saying that they will complete their mission so quickly that the enemy won't even know what has happened until it's too late, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure if I explained this well, so if it sounds confusing at all let me know and I'll elaborate more. 
Hope this helped :)

Answers · 3

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