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Does present perfect in conditional only mean future situations? Can it be used for hypothetical future?

When I went to Africa, I thought as if I have already been there.

If you have studied, you would pass the exam.

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In a word, no. You can't. – Robusto Apr 11 '12 at 9:53
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Also, "I thought as if" is not idiomatic in most dialects of English I've heard. "I felt as if" is more usual. – Karl Knechtel Apr 11 '12 at 10:15
To add to @KarlKnechtel "It seemed as if I had already been there." – user14070 Apr 11 '12 at 20:39

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote

You cannot use it for future situations. Here is one reference and here is Wikipedia's.

In your case you could replace the sentences as follow:

When I went to Africa, I thought as if I have already been there. [X]
When I went to Africa, I felt as if I had already been there. [✔]

If you have studied, you would pass the exam. [X]
If you had studied you would have passed the exam. [✔]

By the way, I used the 3rd conditional in the second sentence.

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