Weird wording in mini-story #55 in English

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1

I´ve been translating the mini-stories from English and I noticed that in #55 there is are some sentences about Sally and George buying a house that I find weird because they use want-would, but not want-will or wanted-would. I noticed they were also translated like that in the German version. For example:

  1. If they want to buy a single family house, they would have to live far from the city.

It would seem more logical that it would be either:

If they wanted to buy a single family house, they would have to live far from the city.
-or-
If they want to buy a single family house, they will have to live far from the city.

2

Strictly speaking you are correct. Such sloppiness actually wouldn’t sound too weird in a casual conversation between native speakers, but you are probably better to translate it as if written in either of the ways that you propose. I recently read the same story in German, actually, and by my recollection of what I read there, your second example is probably the better fit. That’s based on the fact that they do, indeed, want to buy a single family house, and end up doing so later in the story.

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3

to me the secon example is a better way to say it.