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Shibainue
6 gen 2019

  • Giapponese
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)
  • Inglese (Regno Unito)
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Domande Inglese (Regno Unito)

’Tom said to me he loved me.’


Can I think that ’he loved her but not now’?

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lovemyselfeu
6 gen 2019

  • Francese (Francia)

@Shibainue Yes you can because everything is in the past

Shibainue
6 gen 2019

  • Giapponese
@Laure_Coll Thanks:) But my reference says that he still loves her. It’s present. If so, this sentence has two meanings that are quite different. Do you know why?
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lovemyselfeu
6 gen 2019

  • Francese (Francia)

I think it’s because all the verbs are at past so maybe it’s a way of speaking past+past=present. it creates an ambiguity

Lex86
6 gen 2019

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@Shibainue Hi, I’m aware that this question has been answered, but I think that it needs more explanation.

I hope it is helpful :)

You cannot assume that it is past tense, as it could be either past or present tense. Usually, the context will tell you if it is past or present tense.

For example, if a girl is talking to her mother and telling her that on their last date, her boyfriend confessed his love to her, she would say

‘Tom said that he loved me’

Then, you can safely assume that it is in present tense. If it were past tense, the sentence would be

‘Tom once said that he loved me’

or something similar. Then, you can assume that Tom no longer loves her.

Shibainue
6 gen 2019

  • Giapponese
@Lex86 @Laure_Coll
Thank you:D
What about if there is no context. Suddenly she said that?
Can you know that he still live her or not?
Lex86
6 gen 2019

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@Shibainue If there is no context, you can assume that it is the present tense and that Tom still loves her.

Shibainue
6 gen 2019

  • Giapponese
@Lex86 Oh... Okay... If I were the girl, I would say ’Tom said to me he loves me.’. Is that strange?
Lex86
6 gen 2019

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@Shibainue It would be more correct to say ‘Tom told me he loves me’, but the idea there is correct :)

Shibainue
6 gen 2019

  • Giapponese
@Lex86 Thanks:) This is just remember thing. Is it?
Lex86
6 gen 2019

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@Shibainue I’m not sure what you mean by ‘remember thing’

Shibainue
6 gen 2019

  • Giapponese
@Lex86 yeah:p
I meant that there is no clear explanation why the sentence is present tense. Just I need to remember it.
Lex86
6 gen 2019

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@Shibainue Yes, that’s true. However, if it has no context like this, just remember that it means that it is present tense. I hope this all helped! :)

Shibainue
6 gen 2019

  • Giapponese
@Lex86 Yes:) I’ll try to remember that with patterns.
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