Learn English – “I thought he is/was a good boy.” Which tense is correct

past-tense

"I think he is a good boy". If I convert this to the past tense, which one mentioned below would be the answer ?

  1. I thought he is a good boy.
  2. I thought he was a good boy.

Kindly explain why they are right/wrong (for both the sentences) ?

Best Answer

Was.

This is called backshifting and is most often used with indirect reported speech. However it's also something English speakers do when talking about internal thoughts, emotions, or unspoken conversations (think, feel, guess, reason, know, theorize, intend, plan, etc.)

He thinks I am crazy -> He thought I was crazy.

This of course raises the question whether he still thinks I am crazy. The past tense implies that he has since changed his mind -- but the truth is, we don't know. We can sometimes guess from context, or we have to ask the speaker for clarification.

In the same way, when we back-shift we sometimes change the meaning of the sentence. We say what we thought then, but might not think now:

I think it's a good idea to go to the beach today.
I thought it was a good idea to go to the beach today (but now it's raining, so I guess I was wrong).

I think it would be a good idea to go to the beach today
I thought it would have been a good idea to go to the beach today (but then my son got sick and we couldn't go).

But not always. Sometimes we're just talking about an internal thought that happened in the past, and is still true:

I guess that Darth Vader is Luke's father.
I guessed that Darth Vader was Luke's father.

Exception: If you relate your past thought to a current condition, you can use the present tense to indicate it's still true today.

Since I was a child I knew that I can't stand broccoli.
Since I was a child I knew that I couldn't stand broccoli.

It may still sound better to use the past tense, but the present isn't wrong.

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