What's the difference between these two sentences?
1. If I know, I'll tell you.
2. If I knew, I'd tell you.
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 9
1
We would NOT say #1: If I know, I'll tell you.
We would say: WHEN I know, I'll tell you. or IF I find out/learn anything, I'll tell you.
#2 is okay.
1
The first sentence is basically saying that "Once I know, I will tell you in the future
The second sentence is a conditional statement. "If I knew, I would tell you but I don't know." It's not the exactly the past but it's the subjunctive tense.
1
in the first version you are making a promise: basically you say "now i don't know it, but if in the future i will discover it, I promise I will tell you"
in the secon version you are talking about the past: "i didn’t tell you because I didn't know".
0
That is conditional sentences. Posibble and unreal sentences. Present and past simple.
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