Going to Russia

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Rotter

#406135 Sat, 18 Aug 07 02:07 PM

1.If I go to Russia, I will speak Russian.

2.If I go to Russia, I would speak Russian.

Which is the correct one?

My guess is the first one is correct provided that you know I speak Russian.
If I don't know Russian, the second one is correct.
[ As a matter of fact, I have a smattering of Russian.]

Marius taught me about the hypothetical aspect when writing the verb 'would'. This is tricky for me.
I would like to hear from you all.

Rotter

Joined on Sun, Jul 24 2005

Japan

Regular Member (655)

Я люблю российских девочек.

Verbs

Francesca

#406145 Sat, 18 Aug 07 02:39 PM

Hi Rotter,

The 'would' form would be correct if you wrote "If I went to Russia, I would speak Russian"

Francesca

Joined on Tue, Oct 11 2005

Grand Duchy of Tuscany

Contributing Member (1,627)

Rotter

#406196 Sat, 18 Aug 07 05:01 PM

Franceska
I would agree with you to say that the following is correct.
For the best of my knowledge, this borders maintaining the same sentence.
The following is same as your sentence.

If I had money, I would buy a new car.

If you know two people who plan to visit Russia, one speak Russian and the other one can't speak Russian, you will use both sentences.
I would like to hear from you again.

Rotter

Grammar Geek

#406301 Sun, 19 Aug 07 02:18 AM

Hi Rotter,

I'm not sure what you mean about the two people, one who speaks Russion and one who doesn't.

If I go to Russia, I will speak Russian - sure, we all agree this is okay
If I were to go to Russia, I would speak Russian
If I had gone to Russia, I would have spoken Russian

Heck, even this: If I had known I was going to Russia, I would have learned Russian.

But I don't understand how anyone who doesn't speak Russian could use a sentence about actually speaking Russia.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (16,067)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Marius Hancu

#406315 Sun, 19 Aug 07 04:06 AM

Francesca's example is better than the original 2.

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Rotter

#406393 Sun, 19 Aug 07 12:30 PM

Thanks everybody for the replies.

So the following is incorrect in this context.

2. If I go to Russia, I would speak Russian.

Recently Marius taught me some aspects of using the verb 'would' when writing sentences.

What he taught me was engraved in my memory. If you want to talk about things which are imaginary, you can write a sentence using the verb 'would' to indicate the hypothetical nature.
So I thought the second sentence is fine if I don't speak any Russian.

Rotter

Verbs

Grammar Geek

#406440 Sun, 19 Aug 07 03:43 PM

Yes, you do you "would" to talk about a situation that isn't real, but you don't use to express someting impossible. If you don't speak Russian, you can't say "I would speak Russian."

If I were to go to Russia - this part is the imaginary part. I didn't go to Russia - then I would speak Russian - this part is what you WOULD do if you were in this imaginary situation.

If I knew it was going to rain, I would have brought my umbrella. (The imainary part is knowing it was going to rain. I didn't, so consequntly, I did not bring an umrella.)

Grammar Geek

Yankee

#406481 Sun, 19 Aug 07 05:47 PM

Rotter wrote:

1.If I go to Russia, I will speak Russian.

2.If I go to Russia, I would speak Russian.

Which is the correct one?

My guess is the first one is correct provided that you know I speak Russian.
If I don't know Russian, the second one is correct.
[ As a matter of fact, I have a smattering of Russian.]

Marius taught me about the hypothetical aspect when writing the verb 'would'. This is tricky for me.
I would like to hear from you all.

Hi Rotter

Maybe looking at it this way will help:

If I go to Russia = a probable condition
I will speak Russian = result of fulfilling the condition

If I go to Russia = a probable condition
I will only be able to speak broken Russian = result of fulfilling the condition

If I went to Russia = a hypothetically possible situation
I would speak Russian = result of fulfilling the condition

If I went to Russia = a hypothetically possible situation
I would only be able to speak broken Russian = result of fulfilling the condition

Whether or not you can speak Russian fluently doesn't actually have anything to do with fulfilling the condition ("go/went to Russia") in the sentences above.
.
Especially in your second sentence, you seem to be trying to assign a condition where a result should be.

Yankee

Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006

Connecticut, USA

Senior Member (4,294)

Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

Verbs

Rotter

#406518 Sun, 19 Aug 07 08:11 PM

I thank both Grammar Geek and Yankee for the excellent replies.
It seems Marius is not on line today. I hope he will read this thread today too.

So I should be able to draw a line between impossible events and hypothetical events.


4] If researchers produce a powerful drug to kill the AIDS virus, millions of AIDS patient will benefit.

5] If researchers produce a powerful drug to kill the AIDS virus, millions of AIDS patient would benefit.

It is my understanding that the possibility of synthesizing a new drug is always exist.
In your opinion, which is the correct one. The fourth or fifth.

It shouln't be a drug for AIDS. It may be a drug for curing diabetes, arthritiis, etc.
As far as I understand there is no drug to cure diabetes,arthritis etc. People who suffer from such disorders have to go on taking drugs to keep the problem at bay.

Rotter

Grammar

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