There are times when we use past tense to refer to future, like in the following sentences:
We'd manage the funds until he came of age. You'd get helpers until you got older.
The background behind these two sentences was that a retail tycoon had a serious car accident and was in a coma. The first sentence was uttered when the tycoon's wife and partner were talking about who was going to inherit his shares if he had died. The wife answered their son, a teenager at that time, would.
My question is: why do we use past tense in came and got while in fact the tycoon's son was only a teenager at that time? Does it have to do with sequence of tenses?
By that I mean if we are talking about a counterfactual situation using the auxiliary "would", then the second verb has to be "came" and "got" respectively. Instead, if we replace would with will in those two sentences, then we will have to say
We will manage the funds until he comes of age. You will get helpers until you get older.
Or do you have other explanation for the uses of came and got? Thanks a lot in advance.
"Kuna nyakati tunatumia wakati uliopita kurejelea wakati ujao, kama katika sentensi zifuatazo: ""Tungesimamia fedha hadi alipofikia umri wa miaka.""" Unapata wasaidizi mpaka uwe mzee. Sababu ya sentensi hizo mbili ilikuwa kwamba tajiri mmoja wa biashara ya rejareja alikuwa na aksidenti kubwa ya gari na alikuwa katika hali ya kukosa fahamu. "Semana ya kwanza ilitolewa wakati mke na mshirika wa tajiri huyo walipokuwa wakizungumza kuhusu ""ni nani angerithi hisa zake"" ikiwa angekufa." Mke huyo akajibu kwamba mwana wao, aliyekuwa tineja wakati huo, angefanya hivyo. "Swali langu ni: kwa nini tunatumia wakati uliopita katika ""alikuja"" na ""alipata"" wakati kwa kweli mwana wa tycoon alikuwa kijana tu wakati huo?" Je, ni kwa sababu ya utaratibu wa nyakati za usemi? Kwa hiyo ninamaanisha kama sisi ni kuzungumza juu ya hali counterfactual kutumia msaidizi "ingekuwa", basi kitenzi cha pili lazima kuwa "kuja" na "kupata" kwa mtiririko huo. "Kama tutakapoongeza ""will"" badala ya ""would"" katika sentensi hizo mbili, basi tutakuwa na kusema ""We will manage the funds until he comes of age.""" Utakuwa na wasaidizi mpaka utakapozeeka. Au una ufafanuzi mwingine wa matumizi ya alikuja na got? Asanteni sana mapema.