[Grammar] What tense should be used in the sentence?

Hello everyone,

I would be very grateful if someone could tell me which sentence is correct and what tense should be used in similar sentences:

I decided to hide and wait to see if anyone will enter the house when I leave.

I decided to hide and wait to see if anyone would enter the house after I left.


Many thanks!

Anne

anneb288 said:

Hello everyone,

I would be very grateful if someone could tell me which sentence is correct and what tense should be used in similar sentences:

I decided to hide and wait to see if anyone will enter the house when I leave.

I decided to hide and wait to see if anyone would enter the house after I left.


Many thanks!

Anne

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Welcome to Using English, Anne. Only your second sentence is correct.

Thank you!

It would also be correct without "would".

I decided to hide, and wait and see if anyone entered the house after I left.

One thing: it is potentially ambiguous as it's not clear whether:

- you decided, after you left, to hide and wait and see if anyone entered
or
- you decided to hide and wait and see ... if anyone entered after you left.

It's not an important ambiguity but it's still there.

I thought so, too... I meant that I was in front of the house, then decided to hide and wait in order to see if someone would turn up later. It already happened and I'm telling someone a story. In the next sentence I say that no one entered the house. So perhaps I should use "would"?