Super Secret Video Sneak Peek

Both Tapa and Kapa are fine, but I consider Tapa the better sounding of the two, so I usually roll with that. Yeah, the whole "were/was" thing is a tricky one. If there's one thing I love, though, it's picking up on mistakes of native speakers. That always fills me with joy. Plus, it helps one to remember typical trip-ups. We do have Konjunktiv II. All is good. I will never venture into grammar videos, btw. There's only pain in that.

Tapakapa

that makes a lot of sense, thanks you learn something new every day

Federico Naranjo

Well, "was" and "were" are the singular and plural for "to be" in the simple past tense. There you're absolutely right. The issue is that in this case specifically "were" is not simple past. I don't have a YouTube channel dedicated to ripping off CG- uhm, explaining things. So maybe Tapakapa can explain it more easily? It's indeed the English version of Konjunktiv II and don't tell me Austrian doesn't have that. The way I understand it the main difference between "Even if it was effective, …" and "Even if it were effective, …" is that the latter removes it further from reality. The first would indicate the speaker doesn't think it is so, whereas the second indicates it isn't so. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I also figured out to pre-write formatted messages and paste them.

ok I take that back (although most ppl would say “was”) seems living in a english speaking country for 20 years (or the vast majority of my life) is insufficient to teach you all the grammatical rules Lennard above seems right; it seems you can can use “if something was true” / “if something were true” more or less interchangeably (not gonna lie I’m pretty confused reading up on these modes) another good source: https://www.englishforums.com/English/IfTrueTrue/bvzzgn/post.htm edit: my understanding had always been “was” for singular and “were” was plural l, but even this is flawed since “if it were raining” or “if it was raining” both sound correct to me (I’m just having a existential moment) “if he was good at sport...” “if they were bad at sports...”

Federico Naranjo

Oh Deer Lord, now is the time I realise I should've paid attention in school? Well, I paid enough attention to know "Wikipedia is a reliable source you can use in your class presentation" or something. As such : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfactual_conditional Specifically look for "simple past counterfactual" where it states: "The counterfactual example uses the fake tense form 'was' in the 'if' clause and the modal 'would' in the 'then' clause. As a result, it conveys that the speaker does not believe that it is raining." Below that the "counterfactual irrealis" where it gives the example "If it were raining right now, then Sally would be inside (or elliptically) Were it raining, Sally would be inside.". I mostly remembered "that sounds a lot like something something Konjunktiv I oder II oder so" and went from there. Thankfully the university of Dartmouth (the computing guys) had a few helpful pointers which led me to that Wikipedia article. And as we all know Wikipedia is trustworthy on all things grammar like ClipArt.org is on all things pirate. EDIT: Format, added bad joke stolen from Tapakapa. (Tapa? Kapa? Is there an accepted short form?)

Pretty sure "were" is correct here. "Was" would be the colloquial way of saying it, though. Thanks for bringing it up anyway! And thanks for the praise ^_^

Tapakapa

small grammatical mistake at 7:58: should be "Let's assume the KBA was effective." great video 🙂 edit: nope, turns out english grammar is too hard. I give up (still great video tho)

Federico Naranjo