Conditional questions (If I were sick, I would have taken this medicine.)

[Crazy]

Hi,

Could anyone Please check these sentences?

a) If I were sick, I would have taken this medicine.

b) If I were not sick,wouldn't I have taken this medicine?

Please help me understand this type of grammar structure.

[Torsten]

Hi Crazy,

Here are my suggestions:

a) If I were sick, I would take this medicine. (conditional II)
b) If were not sick, why would I take this medicine? (conditional II)

For more information on the conditionals, please read on condition.
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[Crazy]

Hi Torsten,

Thanks a lot for replying.

My first confusion is with "If I were sick”. Dose it mean "If I get sick”, “If I got sick" or "If I will get sick"?

I kindly request you to please help me understand this.

[Yankee]

Hi Crazy

Try looking at it this way:
"(If) I were sick" is basically just the theoretical/unreal version of "(It is true that) I am sick".

Saying "I am sick" refers to the real state of my health in the present. It is a real condition now.

Saying "If I were sick" does not refer to the real state of my health at present. Instead, it refers to a condition that is theoretical/unreal/not true at the moment.
.

[Molly]

[MrPedantic]

2. If I were not sick, wouldn't I have taken this medicine?

This doesn't quite make sense; but you might say:

3. If I weren't sick, would I have taken this medicine?

A schoolboy simulating sickness might say such a thing, indignantly: he took the medicine to prove he was sick.

(In BrE, I would think "If I wasn't" more usual than "If I weren't", in this kind of context.)

MrP

[Molly]