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Aleksandra

#11541 Thu, 12 Oct 06 08:25 AM

Thank you for trying, but I still have to insist (if you have the pacience to read and answer):

I would not have been able to do it without you (inglés)

=No lo hubiese/hubiera podido hacer sin ti (español),

BUT, in "If clauses" the construction is:

If I had known I would have told her.

Si lo hubiera sabido no se lo habria dicho.

So, it seems that "would have" can be said in 2 ways (hubiera/habria). HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO KNOW WHEN TO USE WHICH ONE? That is what confuses me!

Ok, I know that in IF-Clauses "would have" I will always say with "habria", but when I don not have an If-Clause, then for expressing "would have" I should always use "hubiera"? Is that the point?

And PLEASE, could you translate these sentences for me:

I think he goes to work./went to work/has gone to work/had gone to work/will go to work/might go to work.

I thought he goes to work/went to work/has gone to work/had gone to work/will go to work/might go to work.

Thank you

Aleksandra

Joined on 29-09-2006

europe

Usuario Principiante (21)

Sextus

#11553 Thu, 12 Oct 06 04:46 PM

Hi, how's it going?

Personally, I'd say: "No lo habría podido hacer sin ti". But it's a fact that people use "hubiera/hubiese" in this kind of cases. Your reasoning is perfect, and in principle only "habría" is grammatically correct. However, it is now accepted to use the subjenctive in both clauses: "Si lo hubiera sabido, no se lo hubiera/hubiese dicho". In my opinion, this is the reason why people say "No lo hubiese/hubiera podido hacer sin ti".

Translations:

I think he goes to work./went to work/has gone to work/had gone to work/will go to work/might go to work.

"Creo que va/fue/ ha ido/ había ido/irá or va a ir/podría ir al trabajo."

I thought he goes to work/went to work/has gone to work/had gone to work/will go to work/might go to work.

I don't fully get these possibilities. For instance "I thought he goes to work".

Saludos

Sextus

Joined on 10-11-2005

Buenos Aires

Miembro Pleno (612)

Anonymous

#11598 Fri, 13 Oct 06 11:40 AM

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

You have no idea how much you helped me, from all these possibilities with habria and hubiera I had my head spinning. Anyway, now when I know that, in principle, both of them can be used is much easier.

Thanks for the translation of sentences, the second one is my fault but I didn't know how to express it better and emphasise my point at the same time, because I wanted to see the sequence of tenses in Spanish (when in the main clause we have a past tense and then how to adjust all other tenses-present, future, past, past perfect, imperfect, conditional- in the subordinate clause to it).

Do you or anyone else has o good site where I could find out more about the sequence of tenses in Spanish lang?

Ciao

Anonymous

Aleksandra

#11599 Fri, 13 Oct 06 11:54 AM

This is terrible, I wrote a message and I did not log in.

Anyway, I wanted to thank you, you really helped me.

Regarding the translation of sentences, it was my fault, I did not express myself correctly. I wanted to emphasise the sequency of tenses. Do you have a good website where I could find more about it - I am interested in which time turns into which time when we have a verb in a past tense in the main clause:

for example: I think she will come; indirect speach (sequa. of tenses) is: I thought she would come.

or, I think she has been here for 2 hours - I thought she had been here 2 hours ago.

So, present simple turns into past simple, present perfect into past perfect.

Is it the same in Spanish, or you have different regulations for seq. of tenses?

THANKS IN ADVANCE

Aleksandra

Sextus

#11604 Fri, 13 Oct 06 04:23 PM

Sí, así es. The only difference is that at least in some Spanish speaking countries we use simple past instead of present perfect. Also, to refer to a future action in the past one may also use the "imperfecto".

Creo que estuvo/ha estado acá por dos horas. / Creí que había estado acá por dos horas.

Creo que vendrá/va a venir. / Creí que vendría/iba a venir.

Saludos

P.D.: no conozco ningún sitio web sobre el tema.

Sextus

Aleksandra

#11711 Tue, 17 Oct 06 01:42 PM

I tried to answer you yesterday, but the net connection was bad, so I couldn't log in.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the cooperation, what you wrote was very helpfull.

Aleksandra

Sextus

#11814 Fri, 20 Oct 06 08:26 PM

I'm glad if I could help. If you need anything else, just let me know.

Saludos

Sextus