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If we tell them the truth they wouldn't believe us

Is this construction correct in English? I mean, for conditional sentences, the rule is If+past tense/would +infinitive, but here, can we also use the present in the "if" clause?

The meaning, as I see, can be "We tell them the truth and they still don't want to believe us"

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  • Maybe if you used the archaic “wouldst”. I’m not sure what you’re aiming for with the apostrophe-s.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Apr 9, 2019 at 8:18
  • Sorry, it it Wouldn't. Question is if "tell" is the right tense
    – Laura
    Commented Apr 9, 2019 at 8:33
  • I think this question fits better in the English Language Learners section and have voted to migrate the question there.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Apr 9, 2019 at 11:39
  • “If we tell” and “If we told” can both convey a sense of future telling in your example.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Apr 9, 2019 at 11:39
  • 4
    Most idiomatic is "told"->"wouldn't" and "tell"->"won't". Though there are arguments that can be made that the others are not technically improper.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Apr 9, 2019 at 12:03

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I would suggest that this is perhaps an example where a conditional tense should be used:

If we were to tell them the truth, they wouldn't believe us.
Meaning: Even if we told them the truth, they wouldn't believe us.

Note that here "were" is not being used as past tense, but as a conditional tense.
Further details of using were to in this way are given in the following references:

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I'd try to keep the tenses the same throughout the sentence.

If we tell them the truth they will not believe us

If we told them the truth they wouldn't believe us

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