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How to say properly in American English this sentence: "He would go to the theater if I would go with him".

Does it look absolutely fine? First of all, I'm curious about two "would" in one sentence.

2 Answers 2

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I'm not a native speaker, but the way I learnt it, it should be ".. if I went with him".

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  • A good answer would contain an explanation why to use "went".
    – Em1
    Commented Dec 15, 2014 at 13:03
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It's okay, but perhaps not what you mean. You perhaps mean:

He would go to the theater if I went with him.

The would clause is conditional, but the clause used to give the condition is not itself in the conditional mood.

We might use your form if we had another reason for using would, like a double conditional:

If it wasn't raining, I would go to the theater, and he would go to the theatre if I would go with him.

Or some past-tense uses:

In those days I would often go to the theater, and he would go to the theater if I would go with him.

Even there though, went would be more common.

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