I didn’t save you because you’re not important., ,Now, what he meant was:

[HenHanna]

[This is a guest post from Brett Powley]

I ran into something recently that I thought might be log-worthy. My
wife was watching Van Helsing, the TV series, and I heard one of the
characters say this:

1. I didn’t save you because you’re not important.

Now, what he meant was:

2. I wouldn’t have saved you if you weren’t important.


-------------------- 1 sounds weird,

[Tilde]

Post by HenHanna
[This is a guest post from Brett Powley]
I ran into something recently that I thought might be log-worthy. My
wife was watching Van Helsing, the TV series, and I heard one of the
                 1.  I didn’t save you because you’re not important.
                 2.  I wouldn’t have saved you if you weren’t important.
--------------------   1 sounds weird,

Full discussion here


https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=65606