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I left the note two days ago, and he is going to come back two days from now. So, the action is going of him eating my food is in the future.

What tense should I use?

Which example is correct?

Example 1

I left a note on the table two days ago so that he would eat the food I prepared for him.

Example 2

I left a note on the table two days ago so that he will eat the food I prepared for him.

Which one is correct?

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  • I would choose the second if he hasn't come back yet; better still "I left a note telling him to eat the food" or "telling him that I have left some food for him".
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jun 3, 2023 at 8:50
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    Here @Kate Bunting’s ear and mine differ. For me, would sounds better. (I do agree that her alternatives are better than both though.) Where I might use will is if the main verb were in the present perfect—“I have (just) left a note…” For me, in that case the intending (that he eat the food) is definitely ongoing. Compare your examples to “I told him I would return,” and “I’ve told him I will return.”
    – Paul Tanenbaum
    Commented Jun 3, 2023 at 10:36
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    I'm leaving a note....so he will etc. I left a note ....so he would etc.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jul 19, 2023 at 21:52

2 Answers 2

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Both "would" and "will" are 100% correct and natural.

In general, where it makes no difference to correctness or meaning, English speakers default to backshifting. We usually only leave the verb in the present form if it's important to indicate that the verb is still true. In this context, since it's already clear that he hasn't eaten yet and he will get the note in the future, "would" is fine, so on average, I think more English speakers would choose "would".

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Would is the past tense of will. Would also feels like it is leaving out some context if you use it the way you have. lets look at a different sentence to explain.

  1. The dog will eat the food.
  2. The dog would eat the food.

Sentence 1 is complete. it is saying the dog, in the future, is going to eat the food. Sentence 2 seems odd, it sounds like this already happened or maybe it is missing context. it feels like there needs to be a "but" with some explaining lets alter sentence 2 to make more sense now.

  1. The dog would have eaten the food, but he was sick and could not.

this feels more complete and give better context, the dog was going to eat the food, but for some reason he could not. this implies we know the dog would eat the food normally, but something got in the way.

with your sentence you have multiple tenses going on so lets break those down to understand why "will" is the word you want.

I left a note on the table two days ago

you left him a note. this has already happened, you left this note two days ago.

so that he will eat the food I prepared for him.

based off your context of "he is going to come back two days from now" when this person sees the note in two days, he will eat the food. He will see the note that you left, and will eat the food.

the context "I left the note two days ago, and he is going to come back two days from now." is very important here. It is saying this whole event, from the moment you left the note, to the moment he sees the note, is 4 days. two days ago from today you left a note. two days from today, he will see this note and eat the food. Your actions are past, his actions will be future.

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