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I'm wondering how Japanese tenses work for hypothetical situations that may happen or could have happened.

More specifically, are the verb tenses in the below sentences correct?

We probably would not have come this far without his support.

彼の支援がなかったら、ここまで進んでなかったでしょう。

If you don't hurry, you will be late for school.

急がないと遅刻する

I have seen this post as well, but I'm wondering about present and future situations as well.

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  • 1
    They are correct.
    – user4092
    Commented Mar 25, 2016 at 21:13
  • @user4092 Thank you! If it is all right, would you mind posting an answer? That way, I can close this question and give you appropriate credit.
    – seafood258
    Commented Mar 26, 2016 at 6:38

1 Answer 1

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Yes, you are very correct. ~ないと is a very common usage for hypothetical future tense.

I would like to just point out that in your first past tense that the "if" is actually implied by なかったら in the prior phrase, not なかった in the second, like so:

彼の支援がなかったら、ここまで進んでなかったでしょう。

and my translation

If it were not for his support, we probably would not have come this far.

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  • How would it be different if it were "If it had not been for his support, we probably would not have come this far"? What would the Japanese sentence be?
    – chocolate
    Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 15:32
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    @chocolate Regarding the phrases "if it had not been" and "if it weren't for", I find them to be equivalent for the most part, but there are situations where one is more preferable than the other. Related: fromexperience.info/grm/ifitwerenotfor.html / usingenglish.com/forum/threads/…
    – seafood258
    Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 20:52

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