sequence of tenses

[ridvann]

Hello,

-I learnt yesterday when you would go to Paris.

-I learnt yesterday when you will go to Paris.

The first part of the sentence is past, the second one is the action which will be in future. And I want to ask which one must be used to be more clear?

Thanks...

 

[5jj]

As the going to Paris is still in the future, both are fine. Backshifting (into a past-tense form) is almost always correct in indirect speech. If the situation reported is still true, then backshifting is not essential.

 

[ridvann]

So many thanks... And then the sentences I wrote are correct too.

I already knew we can.
Could you guess we will be able to do this?

P.S :The situation reported is still true.

 

[bhaisahab]

So many thanks... And then the sentences I wrote are correct too.

I already knew we can.
Could you guess we will be able to do this?

P.S :The situation reported is still true.

No, those are not correct.

 

[ridvann]

But the teacher 5jj said that we can use. I couldn't understand why the first post is correct as he said, and why the second is wrong as you said to me.

 

[ridvann]

I will write a few sentences to be more clear.

-Don't worry Jessica, I already knew where youl will go.

-I couldn't understand why the students can't understand this problem.

- Calinda: I can't leave this town.
Camellaon't worry... I guessed you can't leave this town.

P.S: The situation is still true. Could you please correct me because I have been confused. If the sentence I wrote are not natural, could you please write some more natural sentenes?

Thanks all...

 

[bhaisahab]

I will write a few sentences to be more clear.

-Don't worry Jessica, I already knew where youl will go.

-I couldn't understand why the students can't understand this problem.

- Calinda: I can't leave this town.
Camellaon't worry... I guessed you can't leave this town.

P.S: The situation is still true. Could you please correct me because I have been confused. If the sentence I wrote are not natural, could you please write some more natural sentenes?

Thanks all...

-Don't worry Jessica, I already knew where you would go.
-I couldn't understand why the students couldn't understand this problem.
- Calinda: I can't leave this town.
Camellaon't worry... I guessed you couldn't leave this town.

 

[ridvann]

As the going to Paris is still in the future, both are fine. Backshifting (into a past-tense form) is almost always correct in indirect speech. If the situation reported is still true, then backshifting is not essential.

-I learnt yesterday when you would go to Paris.

-I learnt yesterday when you will go to Paris.

But he said that they are correct. And it made sense to me. For this reason I have been confused.

 

[bhaisahab]

I have given you my opinion. I can do no more than that.

 

[ridvann]

Thanks for all the answers...

 

[5jj]

With the wisom of hindsight, I can see that my first response, "As the going to Paris is still in the future, both are fine. Backshifting (into a past-tense form) is almost always correct in indirect speech. If the situation reported is still true, then backshifting is not essential" was a little simplistic. It is reasonably satisfactory for reported speech, i.e. the reporting of words that were said:

Monday, 0930: Peter: I am going to Paris tomorrow.

Monday, 14.00: Paul: Peter said that he is/was going to Paris tomorrow.
Tuesday, 0930: Peter said that he [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE]/was going to Paris [STRIKE]tomorrow[/STRIKE]/the next day/yesterday.

With other forms of indirect speech, a lot depends on the context, and on the 'reporting' verb. In your first pair,

- I learnt yesterday when you would go to Paris.
- I learnt yesterday when you will go to Paris .

I considered 'I learnt' to convey a similar message to 'somebody told me', and that actual words were in effect dealing with reported speech.

With 'I already knew where you will/would go', we have a different situation. At the time that 'I' had this knowledge, it was knowledge of the certainty of 'your' future action. 'I' could not know that this would still be a certainty at a later time. So, we normally report only our past knowledge 'I knew where you would go' or our present state of knowledge (which may prove to be incorrect), 'I know where you will go'.