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I was glad because I have seen you.

Is this correct?

Can I use the present perfect after "because" when the first sentence is in the simple past?

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  • It’s unclear how the tense of the presented sentence should be constrained by the tense of the unpresented “first sentence” that is in the past tense.
    – Lawrence
    Oct 23, 2018 at 11:19
  • I mean the first clause
    – Rani2Add
    Oct 23, 2018 at 23:22
  • Comments are treated as ephemeral on this site. Please edit the question directly.
    – Lawrence
    Oct 24, 2018 at 5:13

1 Answer 1

2

Two clauses joined by a conjunction do not have to share the same tense, so your sentence is grammatical, but it is nonsensical because it violates causality -- something in the present cannot cause something in the past.

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  • What about I had seen you
    – Rani2Add
    Oct 24, 2018 at 6:18
  • 1
    Yes, when the cause is 'past perfect', it is even farther in the past than the 'simple past' result, which is logical for causality.
    – AmI
    Oct 25, 2018 at 3:06

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