- Would you like to meet with me when I arrive?
- Would you like to meet with me when I arrived?
I'd like to know if the second verb should be in the past or present tense. Thanks.
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Did you mean "do you want to have a meeting with me", or "do you want to pick me up from the airport/station"?– JavaLatteMar 21, 2016 at 20:00
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2If you want to be picked up at the airport you say: Do you want to meet me at the airport when I arrive. - to meet with sb means to meet sb for negotiations.– rogermueMar 24, 2016 at 4:07
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3 Answers
"Would you like to meet with me when I arrive?" <- this is the correct usage. However instead of " Would you like to meet with me when I arrived?" You could say "Would you like to meet with me when I have arrived?" or "Would you like to meet with me once I have arrived".
When using the phrase "would you like to", you are basically using a slightly more polite form of the phrase "do you want to". This is asking about future plans. The phrase "when I arrived" refers to something that happened in the past, so it doesn't match the tense of the beginning of the sentence. The phrase "when I arrive" implies that you have not yet arrived, so it's in the future, and it matches the beginning of the sentence.
The Present Simple in the sentence you mentioned refers to the future and has future connotation whereas The Past Simple in your second sentence is about a finished action in the past and bears absolutely no future connotation.
Simple Present with when:
It's Tuesday 3 o'clock. a woman asking her son to finish his homework while he's going out with his friends:
Finish your homework when you get back.
Simple Past with when:
It's Wednesday. Son telling her mom the day after she asked him to do his homwork:
I finished my homework when I got home (yesterday).
Time clauses after WHEN, BEFORE, AS SOON AS, very much the same as in the 1st conditional require The Present Simple since their primary time reference is that to the future.
About using Present Perfect (i.e. have arrived)
We tend to use present simple for things that have become "scheduled" too. Here, I assume the person who's coming is taking a public transport. If that's the case it's better to use Simple Present not Present Perfect.
