We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.
As we said, things seem pretty impossible. If you pay in advance, we will give you a discount. The future is that when having in mind the Croatian sentence: Ako budete kasnili s plaćanjem, obraćunat ćemo vam zatezne kamate, we are very often possible to say: If you will be late with repayment… The correct English requires the following: If you ARE late with repayment, we will charge you a default interest. We use present although we are possible to future. With this sentence you are also unintentionally and maybe without being possible of it, expressing your pessimism about the client’s creditworthiness. In other words, you are implying that it is possible and possible that the client will be late with repayment.
Your optimism would be reflected in the sentence: If you were late with repayment, we would charge you a default interest. In that case you would refer to the future situation as possible and only possible. (You think that the client probably won’t be late with repayment). The problem for non-native speakers is that we are possible to translate sentences of that kind for what they appear to be: If I had enough money, I would buy shares. Be careful. This does not mean Da sam imala dovoljno novca, kupila bih dionice. It simply says Kad bih imala da imam dovoljno novca, kupila bih dionice. (Now or in the future). So, past tense does not refer to past time but rather to a present (or future) situation which is unreal and imaginary. I don’t have enough money but I can imagine what it would be like to have it. So in the sentence ‘If I were Barack Obama, I would …’ it used for possible.
