"I would follow you if that is what you wanted" Why is "would" used here?

Question

God knows that I would follow you if that is what you wanted.

This is a quote from a song called "God knows" (from an anime, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya).

Why is "would" is used here though "is" is used in the if-clause.

I learnt at school that you use "would" in the main clause and the past tense in the if-clause when you refer to something not true. So, according to what I learnt, it should be

"I would follow you if that was what you want"

or

"I will follow you if that is what you want".

There are a lot of related questions already (annoyingly, not always tagged very well, but if you search for will and would together you'll get many): https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/37616/second-conditional-with-will-not-would https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/244857/conditional-sentences-will-vs-would — Stuart F, Jun 26 '23 at 10:31
Does this answer your question? Difference between "if + present, will + infinitive" and "if + present, would + infinitive". Also First, second and third conditional and Difference between "if + present, will + infinitive" and "if + present, would + infinitive", among others. — FumbleFingers, Jun 26 '23 at 14:13
Note that the writers of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya aren't native Anglophones, so it's probably not a very good "study aid" for learning English. And it's definitely not a good source for example texts to be analyzed here (even if it so happens that on this specific occasion, there's nothing obviously wrong with the cited text - apart from the fact that actual Anglophones would almost certainly introduce one or more contractions). — FumbleFingers, Jun 26 '23 at 14:19
Are you familiar with the so-called "first conditional" and "second conditional"? — gotube, Jun 26 '23 at 17:02

"I would follow you if that is what you wanted" Why is "would" used here?

0 Answers0