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The conditional perfect is a grammatical construction that combines the
conditional mood The conditional mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual. It may refer to a distinct verb form that expresses the conditi ...
with perfect aspect. A typical example is the English ''would have written''.Gail Stein, ''Webster's New World Spanish Grammar Handbook'', John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Part VII. The conditional perfect is used to refer to a hypothetical, usually counterfactual, event or circumstance placed in the past, contingent on some other circumstance (again normally counterfactual, and also usually placed in the past). Like the
present conditional The conditional mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual. It may refer to a distinct verb form that expresses the conditi ...
(a form like ''would write''), the conditional perfect typically appears in the ''apodosis'' (the main clause, expressing the consequent) in a
conditional sentence Conditional sentences are natural language sentences that express that one thing is contingent on something else, e.g. "If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled." They are so called because the impact of the main clause of the sentence is ''co ...
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English

In English, the conditional perfect is formed using ''would have'' together with the past participle of the main verb. The auxiliary ''would'' marks the
conditional mood The conditional mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual. It may refer to a distinct verb form that expresses the conditi ...
(it is occasionally replaced by ''should'' in the first person; see ''shall'' and ''will''), while the auxiliary ''have'' (used in combination with the past participle) marks the perfect aspect (prior occurrence of the event in question). The conditional perfect is used chiefly in the main clause (apodosis) of "third conditional" (or sometimes "mixed conditional") sentences, as described under English conditional sentences. Examples: * You would have got en'' more money if you had worked harder. * If we had run faster, we would have arrived earlier. * If I were a woman, I would have entered the contest. It is also possible for the auxiliary ''would'' to be replaced by the modals ''should'', ''could'' or ''might'' to express appropriate modality in addition to conditionality. Sometimes, in (chiefly American English) informal speech, the ''would have'' construction appears in the ''if''-clause as well ("If we would have run faster, we would have arrived earlier"), but this is considered incorrect in formal speech and writing (see ). English also has a conditional perfect progressive (''would have been writing''). For more details on the usage of this and of the ordinary conditional perfect, see the relevant sections of the article
Uses of English verb forms This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
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Other languages

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
expresses past
counterfactual conditional Counterfactual conditionals (also ''subjunctive'' or ''X-marked'') are conditional sentences which discuss what would have been true under different circumstances, e.g. "If Peter believed in ghosts, he would be afraid to be here." Counterfactua ...
sentences in exactly the same way as English does: the ''if'' clause uses the ''had'' + past participle (
pluperfect The pluperfect (shortening of plusquamperfect), usually called past perfect in English, is a type of verb form, generally treated as a grammatical tense in certain languages, relating to an action that occurred prior to an aforementioned time i ...
) form, while the ''then'' clause uses the ''would have'' + past participle form, where the equivalent of ''would have'' is the conditional of the auxiliary (''avoir'' or ''être'') used in all
perfect Perfect commonly refers to: * Perfection, completeness, excellence * Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages Perfect may also refer to: Film * Perfect (1985 film), ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama * Perfect (2018 f ...
constructions for the verb in question. Example: * ''Si on l'avait su luperfect indicative on aurait pu onditional perfectl'empêcher.'' :"If we had known it luperfect subjunctive we would have been able onditional perfectto prevent it." Spanish forms the conditional perfect on similar principles, e.g. ''yo te habría dicho todo'' ("I would have told you everything"). Dutch has a similar tense to the English one, formed with ''zou''/''zouden'', the past tense of ''zullen'', the auxiliary of the future tenses, e.g. ''ik zou je alles gezegd hebben'' ("I would have told you everything"). In Dutch grammar it is called the "perfect past future tense", emphasizing that it also has future-in-past properties. For certain other languages, see
conditional mood The conditional mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual. It may refer to a distinct verb form that expresses the conditi ...
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See also

*
Conditional mood The conditional mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual. It may refer to a distinct verb form that expresses the conditi ...
*
Conditional sentences Conditional sentences are natural language sentences that express that one thing is contingent on something else, e.g. "If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled." They are so called because the impact of the main clause of the sentence is ''co ...


References

{{reflist Grammatical tenses Conditionals in linguistics Linguistic modality Semantics es:Condicional perfecto