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Context:

I am talking to my friend, trying to find out what she wants to eat tonight.

"What do you want to eat tonight?"
"You know what I want to eat."
"If I knew what you wanted to eat, I wouldn't be asking you what you wanted to eat."

I am wondering about "wanted" and "wanted" should they be in the present tense? Maybe this is better:

"If I knew what you want to eat, I wouldn't be asking you what you want to eat."

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3 Answers 3

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Both wanted and want are grammatical there. Some speakers backshift to the past tense in the if-clause, while others do not.

I wouldn't be asking if I knew what you want(ed).

If I knew what you want(ed), I wouldn't be asking.

If I knew what it is, I wouldn't ask.

If I knew what it was, I wouldn't ask.

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  • What would you say? Commented Sep 14, 2018 at 19:14
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    I would backshift to wanted and was. Commented Sep 14, 2018 at 19:54
  • in this sentence: "If I knew what you wanted to eat, I wouldn't be asking you what you wanted to eat" Should the second sentence be backshifted as well? Commented Sep 14, 2018 at 19:56
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    @franziskabohn : That repetition of what you wanted is idiomatic in certain contexts; however, it would have some emotional payload, such as impatience, irritation, vexation, or possibly the opposite, solicitude, if you were explaining yourself to someone who is slow to understand, and you were trying to calm them. But if there were no such context, you could seem like someone who is learning English, who does not know that the statement could end idiomatically with the phrase ....I wouldn't be asking. Commented Sep 15, 2018 at 15:12
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    I think it sounds most natural to backshift to wanted and to leave the final clause implied: "If I knew what you wanted to eat, I wouldn't be asking." Commented Jan 30, 2024 at 19:09
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  1. If I know what you want to eat, I will not ask.

  2. If I knew what you wanted to eat, I would not be asking.

  3. If I have known what you wanted to eat, I wouldn't have asked.

  4. If I had known what you wanted to eat, I wouldn't have been asking.

  5. If I have had known what you wanted to eat, I wouldn't have had asked.

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-2

Ok.

I’ll provide context.

My child is annoying me. I ask her what she wants to eat.

If I knew what you wanted to eat, I wouldn’t be asking you what you wanted to eat!!!

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  • The context is clear - no need to explain it. Commented Jan 7 at 9:02

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