Hi.
It’s high time we left if we really want to be on time.
It’s from test No. incompl/inter-56 “High and Low”, question 3.
Could you tell me why there is: It’s high time we left; and not: It’s high time we leave? Why is there Simple past tense used?
Thanx in advance.
“It’s (high) time we left/went/etc.” is a very standard expression and I’d say this form of the verb (left/went/etc.) is an example of the subjunctive. It basically means “we should go” / “we should leave”/ etc.
It only looks like the past tense, but it actually refers to the future.
It’s similar to what you see in some “IF-sentences”:
“If we left at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning, we would miss most of the rush hour traffic.” The word “left” in this sentence also refers to the future.
I wanted to mention that after It’s time… It’s high time… It’s about time… we use a past time but this isn’t a real past time but a subjunctive.
But after it’s time we can use infinitive also:’ It’s time to go home.’ At the others we can’t use if I know well.
In the second sentence we use’ if +past time+ conditional present so it is not subjunctive but conditional present.