Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Keepongoing]

If I were you, I would go on Monday.

In this sentence is "You" the subject. If not, then it should be "If I was you.....

[Juregen]

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

2nd conditional giving advice

I think the difference between were and was just comes down to spoken English. ie 그냥.

I might be wrong. If I were you I'd look it up/ If I was you I'd look it up...intuitively I'd still go with "were"

[CentralCali]

It's not an idiom. It's the correct grammatical form of the verb in the subjunctive mood.

[The Cosmic Hum]

This is a conditional sentence...hypothetical...and uses the subjunctive mood.
When using hypotheticals the subjunctive tense is formally used.
However, it is used less and less...more in the U.S. and less in England.

As for trying to decide if "You" is the subject...rewrite the conditional placing the the dependent clause after the independent clause...
I would go on Monday if I were you.
This may be easier to see that parts of speech...though hypothetical conditional clauses(dependent clauses - subjunctive tense) are often located in first position in complex sentences.
This is only a matter of style and convention...not prescriptivist.

To change "You to subject position...
If you were me, you would go on Monday.
You would go on Monday if you were me.
Regardless...it is still a hypothetical conditional...and in formal prescriptive grammar...the subjunctive tense is still used.


Hope this is somewhat helpful.

[Hornbill]