My question is: It would be great if you buy us pizza. I said this to my friend when I was trying hard to convince him to buy us pizza. I am currently studying conditionals and found out that since I used would, I need to use a past tense verb. What made me confused is, I found this sentence online. She would be happy if you send her this box of chocolate. The teacher used a present tense verb in the if clause. Thanks in advance guys!
You’re right about the tense of the second sentence, Joseph; it isn’t correct. If you’re going for present tense — as in ‘she would become happy if you sent this box of chocolate to her now’ — it should be:
She would be happy if you sent her this box of chocolate.
If you used ‘send’, it would become future tense and you would have to use ‘will’ instead of of ‘would’, as in
She will be happy if you send her this box of chocolate.
or you could use ‘would become’, as in
She would become happy if you send her this box of chocolate.
As to the first sentence, since you’re making a request of a person, it might be slightly more correct — and slightly more polite — to say
It would be great if you could buy us pizza.
This is because it’s a request; they might not do it, and so you’re saying ‘if you did happen to buy us pizza, it would be great.’
Hope that helps!