# EN: What if / How about + tense & mode



## caro44

Hello,

Could someone explain the difference between these two sentences?
- What about if we went to the cinema? 
- What about if we go to the cinema?

I found both on the internet and I don't know which one I should use.

Thank you 

Caro


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## Guerric

Hi,
One has the -ed form (went = go + -ed). 
It means it is not linked to the real/present. It can be because it's *past*, or because it's *fiction*.
We could probably find hundreds of situations where one or the other should be used.
Telling us what you want to say would be much simpler.


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## Donaldos

Tu peux ignorer _what about_, c'est juste une façon d'introduire une nouvelle hypothèse (à utiliser avec discernement d'ailleurs...).

Ce sont donc les règles habituelles des propositions introduites par _if_ qui s'appliquent et le _simple past_ comme le _present simple_ sont acceptables.

Tout dépend de ce que l'on souhaite dire...


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## caro44

Thank you for your answers.

I'd like to know if those two sentences have a different meaning and in which case I should use them...
My objective is just to understand the difference between those two examples but I don't need to translate a sentence...


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## Donaldos

_if we *go*_ : avec le _present simple_, on décrit une action future ancrée dans le réel, dont la réalisation est envisageable/envisagée.

_if we *went*_ : à l'inverse, l'emploi du _simple past_ situe l'action dans un cadre purement hypothétique, coupé de la réalité.  Par conséquent, il peut aussi être employé pour décrire une action manifestement irréalisable.

Tu peux comparer les propositions suivantes, rangée par ordre décroissant de vraisemblance : 

_If I move to Paris, will you come with me ? 

If I moved to Paris, would you come with me ? 

If I moved to Mars, would you come with me ?_​


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## Assurancetourix

Neither of these phrases sound quite right to me, so I googled both of them. I didn't find _what about if we go to the cinema. _I did find _what about if we went to the cinema _but it is from a page which seems to have been written by a Spanish speaker. I would drop the _about _and say _what if we go to the cinema _or _what if we went to the cinema_. I don't think there's really much difference between the two. I agree with Donaldos that where the event in question is impossible or purely hypothetical, _if _is more likely to be followed by the past tense. It does not follow though that _went _cannot be used to make a realistic suggestion - so if you say _what if we went to the cinema _it doesn't mean you're not really intending to go.

That said, I would not use either of these constructions to make a suggestion out of the blue. I would use it to offer a solution to a specific problem - as in:

_but if they're going bowling we're going to be waiting around for like 3 hours
that's true, what if we go to the cinema?
yeah that could work, what's on?

_If I just wanted to suggest going to the cinema I would say something like _do you fancy going to the cinema on Sunday?_


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## caro44

Merci de ta réponse Donaldos

Donc si j'ai bien compris, on traduirait ces deux phrases par "et si nous allions au cinéma ?" mais avec une nuance supplémentaire en anglais :
- What if we went to the cinema? --> peu probable
- What if we go to the cinema?     --> réalisable


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## L'Inconnu

caro44 said:


> - What about if we went to the cinema?
> - What about if we go to the cinema?



Both sentences would be understood by Americans. However, I have some suggestions for you. If you want to make a suggestion, use <how about>.

_"*How* *about* (if) we go to the movies?"_
_"Si on allait au cinema?"_


If you want to speculate, make a conjecture, or bring up a subject use <what/how about or what if>.

_"*What* *if* Jack isn't on time?"_
_"Que fait si Jack n'est pas à l'heure?"_

_"*What/How about* the fact that...?"_
_"Et le fait que...?_


Notes: You cannot use <How if?>, but you can use either <How about?> or <What about?>.

<How about?> is preferred for suggestions which demand a <yes> or <no> answer, e.g., "Yes, I think that's a good idea". In the same context, you can also use <What do you say if/to...?>/<Que tu dis si/à?>. Normally, Americans use <What do you say> in the context where they have already made the suggestion, but you are still hesitating. If you still haven't made up your mind, we might say: "C'mon, what do you say?" In this context, we could also say "C'mon how about it?"

<What if?> corresponds to <Que fait si?>
<What/How about?> is used to bring up topics for general discussion.

If all these 'rules' are too complicated to digest, and as you have already seen American usage is beyond the scope of the textbook, you could just stick with <How about>, but remember to use <What if> whenever you would say <Que fait si>.


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## Guerric

_What if..._ = _Et si...


_


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## L'Inconnu

caro44 said:


> - What about if we went to the cinema?
> - What about if we go to the cinema?



To answer your original question, English speakers use  either the present or the preterit after <If> in much the same way  that French speakers use either the present or the imparfait in  conditional phrases. However, your examples are suggestions, and as such  they are not complete conditional phrases. Using either the present or the preterit does not change the meaning, as far as  I can tell, nor do I know for sure  which verb tense is grammatical correct in this case.  

Getting back to what Assurancetourix was trying to say, English speakers  do not normally use <What (about) if> for a suggestion, that is a  question requiring a <yes> or <no> response, e.g., "Si on  allait au cinema?" Americans prefer <How about?>, which is the  elliptical form of <How about it if?>. As Assurancetourix pointed  out, in certain contexts, English speakers may use <What if?> to  make a suggestion, but you can still use <How about?> even in  these special cases, including in the example he gave.


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## Donaldos

Pour revenir sur la structure de départ _what about if..._, je pense que les locuteurs qui l'emploient peuvent avoir la volonté d'introduire une nouvelle hypothèse, la substituer à une hypothèse précédente.

La proposition "if ..." est alors considérée comme une unité : what about < if ... > = what about <this new/different hypothesis> ?

Il s'agit alors plus d'une invitation à reconsidérer un raisonnement sous un angle différent, en en modifiant les prémisses. 

On est donc proche d'un _what if ..._. Et assez loin d'une simple suggestion/invitation à la "how about ...".

Cet usage semble de toute façon correspondre avant tout à la langue orale.


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## Chimel

Dans ce cas, on serait assez proches de structures françaises telles que "Et si on imaginait plutôt de...?", "Qu'est-ce que ça donnerait si...?"


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## HenryPez

Hello everybody,

I'm watching Groundhog Day, the famous film with Bill Murray. I'm stuck on a dialogue where maybe you can help me.
Here is the extract:

- Let me ask you guys a question. What if there *were *no tomorrow? 
                […]

My second question is about the use of the preterite :

"What if there *were *no tomorrow?"  => Would  "What if there *were *no tomorrow*s*?" AND "what if there *was *no tomorrow"  also be correct? and why??

thank you.


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## Maître Capello

Il s'agit en fait d'un subjonctif passé qui sert à marquer l'irréalité de la condition. (En français, on utilise l'imparfait dans ce cas.) Or le subjonctif passé anglais se conjugue presque comme le preterite. Il se conjugue en fait de la même façon à toutes les personnes, y compris à la 3e personne du singulier.

_What if there *were *no tomorrow?_ ↔ Et s'il n'y *avait* pas de lendemain ?
_If I *were *rich, I *would buy* a house._ ↔ Si j'*étais* riche, j'*achèterais* une maison.
_If he *were *rich, he *would buy* a house._ ↔ S'il *était* riche, il *achèterait* une maison.


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## hbmd

Bonjour à tous, 

j'aurais quelques questions de grammaire.

Après if vient souvent du prétérit n'est-ce pas? ex: if I were you...
Mais j'ai déjà vu quelque part: What if we start... 
Est-ce grammaticalement correct ou bien est-il plus juste de dire what if we started... 
D'ailleurs la phrase entière c'était ca: what if we start/started the things we never did 
Cette phrase est-elle correct?

 [...]

Merci à vous pour votre aide,

Amina


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## geostan

Bienvenue au forum!

(...)

Alors, Pour _*What if we start ou started*_, les deux peuvent se dire, mais sans plus de contexte, j'opterais pour_* started*_.


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## jann

hbmd said:


> Après if vient souvent du prétérit n'est-ce pas?  ex: if I were you...


 Là, c'est en fait un subjonctif... et le sujet  d'une autre discussion. 
EN: If I was/were - subjunctive



> Mais j'ai déjà vu quelque part: What if we start...
> Est-ce grammaticalement correct ou bien est-il plus juste de dire what if we started...
> D'ailleurs la phrase entière c'était ca: what if we start/started the things we never did
> Cette phrase est-elle correct?


_What if we start...?  
What if we started...?  _
Il y a même une 3e possibilité (avec le subjonctif): _What if we were to start__...?__ _

[…]


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## PaulFKN

I know you have already answered some people about "what if", but I still don't get something.

Is it possible to say, for example : What if wind was actually whispering things? Is this sentence correct? Because it sounds pretty weird to me.. 
If it is not, what would be the correct tense to use? Considering that wind cannot whisper anything, ever. Does the word "actually" change anything?

Thanks for your answers!


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## Omelette

You would have to say 'the wind', but otherwise it's fine. Some people would think it more correct to use the subjunctive: 'What if the wind *were* actually whispering things?' 
That is what I would say. But the other form is widely used.


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