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If you had hand sanitizer spray in your pharmacy get me one ? If you have hand sanitizer spray in your pharmacy get me one ? Which sentence is correct and why ?
5 févr. 2025 12:59
Réponses · 6
4
Only the second one works. The first one is unreal - it means that the situation isn't real or the action won't happen. If you had hand sanitizer = you don't have hand sanitizer. If they had hand sanitizer, I would get one. (they don't have it) The second one is a 'possible' conditional. We don't know that there is hand sanitizer but it is a real possibility. If they have it, I'll get you one. If they don't, I won't. Both forms are used to describe a present or future time. The first one (unreal) uses a past form of the verb to show that the situation is not true, rather than describing a past time. If you want to read more about it, you can search for 'real and unreal conditionals'.
5 févr. 2025 13:55
The second one. But it sounds more natural and is more polite to say: If you have hand sanitizer spray in your pharmacy, could I please have one?
5 févr. 2025 22:28
*have (present tense). ‘Had’ is the past tense, so means you did have hand sanitiser, but you don’t have hand it now; so the question wouldn’t make sense as the person asking already knows the other person doesn’t have the sanitiser. Unless you are using the conditional tense: ‘if you had hand sanitiser, would you give it to me?’ (a rhetorical, not a real question).
6 févr. 2025 03:08
*have (present tense). ‘Had’ is the past tense, so means you did have hand sanitiser, but you don’t have hand it now; so the question wouldn’t make sense as the person asking already knows the other person doesn’t have the sanitiser. Unless you are using the conditional tense: ‘if you had hand sanitiser, would you give it to me?’ (a rhetorical, not a real question).
6 févr. 2025 03:07
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