English is a Germanic language and as a native German speaker, I can tell you that such conditionals make sentences look more Germanic. Others say it feels old-fashioned, I can’t judge that. So, if a character in a story says something like that, if that character learned English only later in life and is a native German speaker, unbeknownst to the reader at this point, such sentences are great subtle hints. I can see myself saying such sentences as this is one of many, many ways to express conditionals in German and it’s not invalid in English.

English is a Germanic language but has been much more influenced by Romance languages than most other Germanic languages. As a native German speaker, I can tell you that such conditionals make sentences look more Germanic. Others say it feels old-fashioned, I can’t judge that. So, if a character in a story says something like that, if that character learned English only later in life and is a native German speaker, unbeknownst to the reader at this point, such sentences are great subtle hints. I can see myself saying such sentences as this is one of many, many ways to express conditionals in German and it’s not invalid in English.