Find Out the Difference Between “If I Was” and “If I Was”
If I told you that “If I was” and “If I were” were not used synonymously, would you believe me? Well, you should, because they each have their place in the English language, and that’s not just what sounds good at the moment. Fortunately, once you know the rule, it is fairly easy to decide when you should “be” and when you should “be”.
If I were
Think of “If I was” as a hypothesis. It is a desire, a dream, something that you imagined, but in fact – or could not – happen. To make it a little more grammatically correct, Reader’s Digest explains it this way:
You use the phrase “if I were …” when you use the subjunctive. You may or may not have heard of this grammatical tense (it is not very often taught when learning English when English is your first language), but you probably use it all the time. The adjective is used to talk about hypothetical situations or things that are contrary to reality.
“If I were a bird, I would fly straight to the beach,” you might say. Or maybe, “If I was a little taller, I would have a chance to play professional basketball.”
If you find it difficult to remember that “was” is “hypothetical,” let Fiddler on the Roof guide you:
If i was
“If I was,” then is to be reserved for things that did (or probably) happened.
“If I misused these phrases, I’m sorry,” you might say. And that’s okay; I forgive you. But now you know better.