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A friend invited me to his summer house later this summer, so I told him I would if it doesn't overlap with my plans. This is how I stated it:

I’d come, if it doesn't overlap with my scheduled trips. I have a trip to South Korea tentatively planned for the end of August.

Please advise.

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You should say I will.

I'd is short for I would, which implies that you already know you're not coming, because you already know the dates overlap.

(In which case you'd have to make a lot of awkward changes to the rest of the sentence to remain grammatical, but let's not get dragged in to all that).

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    I agree; it sounds like a simple conditional to me, while drm65 is trying to add a subjunctive mood which is not there from the circumstances given.
    – JeffSahol
    Jun 20, 2011 at 19:56
  • @JeffSahol: I believe your point is well made. It is indeed a straightforward "IF aaa THEN bbb", familiar to those of us who drifted into EL&U from the original programmers site. The subjunctive is at best superfluous - and to my ear unwelcome, if not downright wrong.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jun 20, 2011 at 23:53
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You have two choices:

I will come, if it doesn't overlap with my scheduled trips.
I’d come, if it didn't overlap with my scheduled trips.

However, the latter implies that you don't really think you will come; whereas the former implies that it is totally up in the air whether you'll come.

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  • The second sentence, I’d come, if it wouldn’t overlap..., doesn’t sound quite right to me. I would say I’d come, if it didn’t overlap... in that case.
    – Jason Orendorff
    Jun 20, 2011 at 18:37
  • Your first option says exactly what OP intends - it carries no implication whatsoever as to whether there will be an overlap, so it implies nothing about the likelihood of coming. The second option isn't an alternative. It can only be used when OP already knows of the overlap - which is not the case here.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jun 20, 2011 at 23:58

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