Would I forgive/have forgiven her?

[Ashraful Haque]

(It's a bit private but who cares, it's the internet.)
Some years ago I watched adult films(don't know if the P word would be appropriate) with a friend of mine. She was in a relationship and now she's happily married and expecting a baby. Today I was just thinking about it and saying to myself:

"It was wrong of me to watch adult films with her. What if my wife watched adult films with her friend, would I forgive her?"

Here's the confusion. Should I have said:
"What if my wife had watched adult films with her friend, would I have forgiven her?"

 

[tedmc]

Your second sentence is correct. It comes under the third conditional - expired past condition with probable result expressed as a question.

 

[GoesStation]

"It was wrong of me to watch adult films with her. What if my wife watched adult films with her friend, would I forgive her?"

Here's the confusion. Should I have said:
"What if my wife had watched adult films with her friend, would I have forgiven her?"

They're both possible. The first one speculates about a hypothetical case that might happen in the future. The second is set entirely in the past: both the film-watching and the forgiving would have happened before the present.

 

[jutfrank]

Both are incorrect with the punctuation as it is. Each sentence should be written as two separate questions:

What if my wife watched adult films with her friend? Would I forgive her?
What if my wife had watched adult films with her friend? Would I have forgiven her?

 

[Ashraful Haque]

They're both possible. The first one speculates about a hypothetical case that might happen in the future. The second is set entirely in the past: both the film-watching and the forgiving would have happened before the present.

I think the "What if my wife had watched adult films with her friend? Would I have forgiven her?"is more appropriate when you actually have a wife and not just thinking about what would have happened of you had a wife?

 

[GoesStation]

No. Without more context, both versions suggest that you have a wife.

 

[Tarheel]

Ashraful, you can't make something a question just by using a question mark.

 

[GoesStation]

Ashraful, you can't make something a question just by using a question mark.

I think the [quoted sentence] is more appropriate when you actually have a wife and not just thinking about what would have happened [STRIKE]of[/STRIKE] if you had a wife.

Tarheel is pointing out that your sentence above is not a question. The question mark was wrong.