How could I write about something in the future where something will have happened? That is, I'm writing from the perspective of the current time, about a perspective in the future where something has happened between the two perspectives.
My specific case right now is to get the equivalent of "If you are reading this, I will already be dead" in Japanese.
Currently I'm thinking of 「これを読んでいるなら、私はもう死んでいました」, but that seems to translate more to "If you are reading this, I am already dead", that is, the perspective for it is in the future, but I want to write in the present.
- "If you are reading this, I will already be dead" ⟵ this
- "If you are reading this, I am already dead" ⟵ not this
Since this is a bit hard to understand, here's a drawing to explain what I want to do:
Time ───────────────┬────────────────────┬────────────────┬─────────────>
Now (Writing the letter) I die Letter is read
└────────────────┐ └────────────────│────────────────┐
Writing from here, talking about this, referencing this event
@YangMuye suggested turning it into a question: 「あなたがこれを読んでいるなら、私はもう死んでいるでしょう。」Would this be the best way to do it?
While also helping me with my specific case, please also give a general answer to the question in case people need to apply it to other sentences such as, "In the future, androids will have been created", or "At the heat death of the universe, all black holes will have evaporated" (Yes, I'm bad at examples)