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Is it possible to write

I wanted to know if you are going to...

Or shall I say

I wanted to know if you were going to...

in the case the event is still to happen.

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  • Your situation indicates a decision will be made (whether or not to go to ...). Normally, if no decision is expected to have been made yet, then "I wanted to know if you are going to..." is best. If a decision possibly has already been made, then "I wanted to know if you were going to...". The second one is more natural when you expect a "no".
    – user3169
    Sep 28, 2016 at 22:26

3 Answers 3

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If the event is still to happen, meaning you are not talking about a past event, the use of the past tense forms of both want and be going are used for politeness or another type of 'hesitation'. If you want to speak more directly, use the presente tense forms.

Thus, you can say

I wanted to know if you are going to Miami next Friday.

polite use of want

I wanted to know if you were going to Miami next Friday.

polite use of both want and be going.

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The apparent ambiguity here stems from the idiomatic use of the simple past I wanted to in reference to the present.

It is idiomatic in English to say (not to write formally, n.b.) I wanted or I only wanted of desires in the present. Renaat Declerc, in Tense in English: lts Structure and Use in Discourse, (1991:78) writes:

21.2 Tentativeness

With some verbs (wonder, expect, hope, want, think, etc.) the past tense is used to render a statement less direct, more tentative, hence more tactful, polite:

  (a) I wanted to ask you a question.
  (b) I wondered if you heard anything in the grapevine...
  (c) I was hoping that you would be able to help me tomorrow.
   (...)

It is common to hear a question in the present expressed as something like:

Hi, it's Dave. I wanted to know if you are going to have dinner with me.

Thus, in this case, when we know that event has not taken place, the idiomatic choice is the simple present, preceded by either the present or preterite form of the verb want:

I want to know if you are going to...
I wanted to know if you are going to...

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If the event is still to happen, meaning it may or may not happen, or that the event hasn't happened yet, then you would use the second sentence.

I wanted to know if you were going to...

Using this subjunctive tense also specifies doubt that the person is going.=

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  • The event is sure to happen but it is not now in this case
    – Yves Lefol
    Sep 28, 2016 at 20:35
  • Updated answer.
    – dockeryZ
    Sep 28, 2016 at 20:44

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