If you were to ask Harry what was in the bottle,he would tell you that it contained perfumed mud这句条件从句中的what was in the bottle为什么是过去时,不是现在时.
问题描述：
If you were to ask Harry what was in the bottle,he would tell you that it contained perfumed mud
这句条件从句中的what was in the bottle为什么是过去时,不是现在时.
答
因为这个句子讲述的过去存在的一种情况，也就是Harry在过去的一个时间里会那么说，所以整体描述Harry的句子都是过去时态，至于前面的虚拟，本身就有假设过去的意义，供你参考。
答
因为前面是 you were to ask是过去时,所以它后面的也是跟它一样呀.
这其实是个虚拟语气