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From the speaker’s perspective, a conditional sentence in the present or
present perfect tense is used to express that the condition is likely to be
fulfilled in the (near) future. In some cases, for example in sentence number
4, it is only a matter of time. In such sentences, the conjunction als
can mean ‘if’ or ‘when’. In other words, als can function as a conditional
conjunction ‘if’ or a conjunction of time ‘when’.
Conditional sentences in the simple past
(imperfect) tense
If, from the speaker’s perspective, the condition is less likely to be
fulfilled, indeed, if the speaker is merely fantasizing about a possible
future situation, or, lastly, if the condition cannot presently be fulfilled,
the Dutch use the simple past (was and kocht in example 1a) or the
simple past form of zullen, zou, in combination with an infinitive (zou
zijn and zou kopen in examples 1b and 1c). Examples:
1a Als ik jou was, kocht ik die auto.
If I were you, I’d buy that car.
1b Als ik jou was, zou ik die auto kopen.
1c Als ik jou zou zijn, zou ik die auto kopen.
2a Als ik niet ziek was, ging ik naar school.
If I weren’t sick, I would go to school.
2b Als ik niet ziek was, zou ik naar school gaan.
2c Als ik niet ziek zou zijn, zou ik naar school gaan.
For both sets of examples, sentence c is less common, especially in spoken
Dutch. Options a and b differ only in style, grammatically they are equally
acceptable, the choice, therefore, is with the speaker. See the following
examples:
1 Als je kwam, gingen we naar de markt.
If you came, we’d go to the market.
2 Als je kwam, zouden we naar de markt gaan.
3 Als je zou komen, zouden we naar de markt gaan.
Using the simple past in both sentences (as in example 1) can create confusion
because it is possible to think of this situation as a recurring event
in the past: ‘Every time you came, we would go to the market’. Therefore,
to avoid such confusion, we prefer to use the infinitive construction with
zou at least in the second sentence (as in example 2), if not in both (as in
example 3).
Conditional
sentences
in the
simple
past
(imperfect)
tense
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