Had or if/help
Forum > English only || BottomMessage from haithm22 posted on 09-11-2017 at 12:23:07 (D | E | F)
Hello,
Could you help me please?
Thanks for any reply.
Two actions in the past
1-……… I had enough money , I’d have bought a new car.
a-If
b- Oh,
c- Had
d- Because
If I say: if I had enough money,I'd have bought a new car, or, had I had enough money I'd have bought a new car, is there any difference in meaning?
And when
When
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Edited by lucile83 on 09-11-2017 13:16
Re: Had or if/help from zilazila, posted on 09-11-2017 at 14:08:38 (D | E)
Hello
See this link. It will help you.
Link
Re: Had or if/help from here4u, posted on 09-11-2017 at 14:14:21 (D | E)
Hello !
Two actions in the past
1-……… I had enough money , I’d have bought a new car.
a-If
b- Oh,
c- Had
d- Because
If I say: if I had enough money,I'd have bought a new car, or, had I had enough money I'd have bought a new car, is there any difference in meaning? The first one's wrong!
And when I can can I use inversion with had, third conditions.
When I can can I use inversion?
(c) is your answer...
"if I had enough money,I'd have bought NO! a new car, or, had I had enough money I'd have bought a new car,YES ! is there any difference in meaning?"
- If I had enough money is "hypothetical mode in the present". At present, you don't have enough money, but you can still have enough... You never know... => to match this clause, you must have "a present conditional" (would + verb base) in the main clause.
=> If I had enough money, I'd buy a new car.
- Had I had enough money I'd have bought a new car. This one's good!
Had I had = If I had had ; = If + past perfect= expresses a regret of something done (or not done) in the past = "hypothetical mode in the past". The main clause needs a "past conditional" = would have + past participle. = I would have had.
So, in the first sentence (once you have changed your tense!), you express a wish which can still become reality. On the contrary, in the second sentence, you express the regret of something past and that you can't change.
As for inversions: as I wrote above, "Had I given..."= "If I had given" (the inverted form being a little more formal and insisting on the regret you're feeling.)
I hope it helped!
Re: Had or if/help from gerondif, posted on 09-11-2017 at 14:16:50 (D | E)
Hello
If I had enough money,I would buy a new car. would be correct.
If I had had enough money,I'd have bought a new car, is correct.
Had I had enough money I'd have bought (I would have bought) a new car, is also correct.
The inversion is classier, posher, more "elite" English.
Forum > English only