Question

Aggiornato il 28 lug 2022

brandun

27 lug 2022

Cinese semplificato (Mandarino)

Inglese (Stati Uniti)
Coreano

Domande Inglese (Stati Uniti)

What’s the difference?
1. He said he loved her.
2. He said he loves her.

Risposte

seoeunnie

27 lug 2022

Domanda in primo piano

Inglese (Regno Unito)
Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@studiousme let's keep in touch ~

yes, they're gramatically correct. all of them are. i understand where your teacher is coming from, but what i've explained to you is called backshifting. it's when we change a present tense to a past tense, or a past tense to a past perfect tense, and it's used for "reported speech" or "indirect speech". reported/indirect speech is when we say what we once said/what someone else said, but without using the exact words. it's like we're indirectly quoting someone.

"he said he loves her" = he still loves her.
"he said he doesn't love her" = he doesn't love her.
"he hoped you can get better soon" = he hopes you can get better soon.

things are about to get a little confusing. sorry in advance ;

"he said he loved her" isn't something that can only be used in the past tense. that can be used for backshifting too.

[i should've said this earlier but it slipped my mind, i'm sorry!]

"he said he loved her" can also mean he still loves her. the only difference is what your teacher seems to be saying - the main clause is in the past tense, so the object clause is in the past tense too.

the reason why i said it means "he once had love for her but not anymore" is because even as a native speaker, i interpreted it that way at first.

with backshifting, you can use the present OR past tense. it's your own personal preference, because you are the one passing on the information. and because of that relaxed rule, a lot of people prefer to use the present tense to avoid misunderstanding, because the present tense means what was said hasn't changed. - ie. "he said he loves her", because many would interpret the past tense as what i said before - "he used to love her".

so, yeah. your teacher is wrong. both are correct, it just depends on preference. in fact, i would actually recommend the "incorrect" ones, to avoid misunderstanding - just like with me and my "he used to love her".

that's a lot to take in, i know. i'm so sorry 😭😭 i hope that makes some sort of sense but i completely understand if it doesn't !

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seoeunnie

27 lug 2022

Inglese (Regno Unito)
Inglese (Stati Uniti)

hello again!
loved is the past tense of the verb "to love", while "loves" is the present tense of the same verb.
"loved" means he used to love her.
"loves" means he still has love for her.

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brandun

27 lug 2022

Cinese semplificato (Mandarino)

@seoeunnie It’s nice to see you again. 😄

Your timing’s perfect. I wanted to ask you a grammar point. My English teacher said the second sentence is grammatically not correct because when the main clause uses the past tense (He said), the object clause should use the past tense as well (he loves). So, to you, both of them are correct but just have different meanings?

seoeunnie

27 lug 2022

Inglese (Regno Unito)
Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@studiousme it's nice to see you again too! it's like we're little study buddies lol

well, that's a little hard to explain. if we're just going off of what tense everything is in, your teacher is right by saying it's gramatically incorrect. however, your teacher is also ✨wrong✨. to make this easier, i'm going to give "him" the name "john", and "her" the name "rachel".

"he said" refers to something john has told someone else in the past. the meaning of that doesn't change for either sentence.

now, if john said that "he loved her", that would mean john said he once had love for rachel, but not anymore. that's because "loved" is in the past tense, and that john himself had said it in the past tense.

but if john said "he loves her," john still has love for rachel. even if the conversation has already happened and it was "said" in the past, "loves" refers to the present. his current feelings have not changed since then.

another way to look at it is - you're indirectly quoting what someone said. i'll write you a dialogue.

A: "hey, sam! do you know what john said to rachel yesterday?"
B: "yes, i do. he said he 'loves her'."
A: "really? that's so cute!"
B: "yes, it is."

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brandun

27 lug 2022

Cinese semplificato (Mandarino)

@seoeunnie Yeah, I would love to be your study buddy.

Thanks a lot for your explanation. So this is quite different from what I learned in school. My English teacher said the tense in the main clause limits the tense in the object clause. If the main clause uses the present tense, the object clause can use any present tense. If the main clause uses the past tense, the object clause should use the past tense.

1. He said he loves her.✘
2. He said he loved her.✔
3. He said he doesn’t love her.✘
4. He said he didn’t love her.✔
5. He hoped you can get better soon.✘
6. He hoped you could get better soon.✔

So 1, 3, 5 are grammatically correct in English-speaking countries, right?

seoeunnie

27 lug 2022

Inglese (Regno Unito)
Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@studiousme let's keep in touch ~

yes, they're gramatically correct. all of them are. i understand where your teacher is coming from, but what i've explained to you is called backshifting. it's when we change a present tense to a past tense, or a past tense to a past perfect tense, and it's used for "reported speech" or "indirect speech". reported/indirect speech is when we say what we once said/what someone else said, but without using the exact words. it's like we're indirectly quoting someone.

"he said he loves her" = he still loves her.
"he said he doesn't love her" = he doesn't love her.
"he hoped you can get better soon" = he hopes you can get better soon.

things are about to get a little confusing. sorry in advance ;

"he said he loved her" isn't something that can only be used in the past tense. that can be used for backshifting too.

[i should've said this earlier but it slipped my mind, i'm sorry!]

"he said he loved her" can also mean he still loves her. the only difference is what your teacher seems to be saying - the main clause is in the past tense, so the object clause is in the past tense too.

the reason why i said it means "he once had love for her but not anymore" is because even as a native speaker, i interpreted it that way at first.

with backshifting, you can use the present OR past tense. it's your own personal preference, because you are the one passing on the information. and because of that relaxed rule, a lot of people prefer to use the present tense to avoid misunderstanding, because the present tense means what was said hasn't changed. - ie. "he said he loves her", because many would interpret the past tense as what i said before - "he used to love her".

so, yeah. your teacher is wrong. both are correct, it just depends on preference. in fact, i would actually recommend the "incorrect" ones, to avoid misunderstanding - just like with me and my "he used to love her".

that's a lot to take in, i know. i'm so sorry 😭😭 i hope that makes some sort of sense but i completely understand if it doesn't !

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brandun

27 lug 2022

Cinese semplificato (Mandarino)

@seoeunnie Ok, I’d be glad to keep in touch with you. 😊

That makes good sense. Thanks so much for elaborating on that! I’m still a little confused though. As per your explanation, backshifting is kind of a grammar rule that allows you guys to use the past tense and the present tense *interchangeably*, because both are technically correct. But if you mean he still loves her, you are more likely to say “He said he loves her” to convey the information accurately. Am I right?

seoeunnie

27 lug 2022

Inglese (Regno Unito)
Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@studiousme you're welcome! ~ yes, that is correct. wow, you're really clever! ^^ even as a native speaker knowing these rules, i got a little confused while explaining - so for you to understand all of that is very admirable. if you have any other questions, don't be afraid to ask me. i don't have wechat, i can get it for you if you would like? otherwise we can chat on here; maybe with the use of this thread.

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brandun

27 lug 2022

Cinese semplificato (Mandarino)

@seoeunnie Oh, thank you! Of course it’s a lot easier for me to use WeChat to chat with you. But I’m not sure if it’s convenient for you to get it. If it’s a little hard for you to log in, we can just chat on HiNative. Thanks again!