Learn English – Should it be “fits” or “fit”

verb-forms

I don't know which one of them is correct:

I was wondering if it fit you

I was wondering if it fits you

Can anyone give some explanations that I could remember for the rest of my life!

Best Answer

The main clause of your sentence is "I was wondering", and it's in Past Continuous tense. The subordinate clause written in Present Indefinite tense would be "it fits you" ('it' is the third person singular, so we need an 's' with 'fit').

When you combine the two clauses, you face the decision whether to change the tense of the subordinate clause, or leave it as is. The decision depends on whether you the fitting of "it" is still unresolved or it has been already (by the time of speaking/writing the sentence) found out.

If the "fitting" of "it" is still unresolved, you can use Present tense in the subordinate clause

I was wondering if it fits you. (fits = Present tense)

if you already know by "now", then you can put the subordinate clause in the same tense as the main clause:

I was wondering if it fit you. (fit = Past tense)

I think that in the majority of cases, the entire situation is in the past, so the latter variation is more likely to relate it correctly.

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