Why did he say "saw" in past tense?

Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
"Saw" is in the past tense here because this sentence is conditional and expresses an unreal situation. In this context, they haven't yet "seen" things from each other's perspective, so the possibility of this indicates a hypothetical situation in which the sentence is conditional. Since it is not a real situation that has happened, the past tense form of the verb is used. Here's a few more examples of conditional sentences: Ex: If you knew her, you would love her. Ex: It would help if you finished your homework early.