Whatever he says goes -- past tense?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello,

“Whatever he says goes.” It means his words have absolute power. However, its past tense 'Whatever he said went" sounds awkward. Is there any way to say that way, meaning “whatever he says goes” in past tense?

Thank you in advance,
sweetpumpkin

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I don’t think there is a past form here since the phrase describes a person who has absolute power for ever. Let’s see what @Andrea says.

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Umm, let’s say Louis XIV had absolute power too, so his words were absolute in his era. Then what can I say for that? Whatever he said, it was absolute…? What I want to know is that somebody’s words has that kind of power… in the past. “absolute” is also possible in this case?

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Hi @Sweetpumpkin,

You can say “Whatever he said went”. You are quite right, I know it might sound odd but it’s used.

I found this useful from the Cambridge online dictionary:

go verb (BE FINAL)

to be final; not to be questioned:

In my parents’ day, nobody ever argued with their father – whatever he said went.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

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