I realized he'd...if I don't/didn't?

[Ashraful Haque]

"Then I realized he'd turn me into loser just like him if I don't/didn't act right away."

In the sentence above I'm talking about the past- 'I realized he'd turn', but after that I said 'if I DON'T act' which is obviously referring to the future.

Should I have said 'if I didn't'?

Can both be used depending on whether I'm describing the past from the present or describing what I felt like in the past?

 

[Rover_KE]

Only didn't is correct in that conditional sentence.

Note: '... he'd turn me into a loser'.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Only didn't is correct in that conditional sentence.

Note: '... he'd turn me into a loser'.

So everything should be in the past?
When I say- 'I though it rains/rained here all year round'

Since I'm talking about something I used to think in the past, should it be rained instead of rains?

 

[jutfrank]

after that I said 'if I DON'T act' which is obviously referring to the future.

Let me be clear I understand how you're thinking. Do you mean you didn't mean to refer to the future? Do you mean the future from the perspective of then or now?

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Let me be clear I understand how you're thinking. Do you mean you didn't mean to refer to the future? Do you mean the future from the perspective of then or now?

Yes sir I think you understand my question.
After I said 'Then I realized' I was thinking from that point in the past. So I was thinking from the perspective of the moment it happened.

 

[jutfrank]

I see. Well, the choice of tense should be determined by the perspective of the moment of saying the sentence, not the moment it happened. So you should have used didn't.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes. [STRIKE]sir[/STRIKE]

Please don't refer to users here as "sir/Sir". You don't know what sex they are (and there is no need to know) and you should not just assume they are male. Also, it's unnecessarily formal.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

I see. Well, the choice of tense should be determined by the perspective of the moment of saying the sentence, not the moment it happened. So you should have used didn't.

So when talking about the past would it be safe to keep the entire context in past?

Just for further clarification, in the following sentence are both 'rain' and 'rained' correct depending on how I'm thinking?
"I though it rains/rained here all year round"

 

[teechar]

Note the correct spelling of "thought", especially given that "though" is also a word in English.

 

[Tarheel]

Abe: I thought it rained here all year round.
Bob: Are you disappointed that it's not raining today?

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Abe: I thought it rained here all year round.
Bob: Are you disappointed that it's not raining today?

So the whole context should be in the past?

 

[Tarheel]

So the whole context should be in the past?

The context of that dialogue is not past tense. It's present tense.

From that dialogue can you tell if it is raining on that particular day?