The conditional perfect is a tense that is used to hypothesize about events that could have occurred in the past. It is a compound tense formed by combining ter meaning to have in the conditional simple with the past participle of the main verb. The conditional perfect is equivalent to “would have + past participle” in English:
The conditional perfect is used in three main cases: to describe the hypothetical past result of some situation that did not take place, to speculate about a past situation that did not take place, or to express uncertainty. Would you like to know more about this verb tense? In this post, we will talk about its form and use. Shall we start?
How to form the conditional perfect?
The conditional perfect is a compound verb tense formed by combining an auxiliary verb with a main verb, using the formula below:
conditional simple
past participle
Here are some more details about the two parts of this formula:
Below, you’ll find the forms of ter meaning to have in the conditional simple tense.
Subject Pronouns Conditional Simple
ter meaning to haveeu meaning Iteriatu meaning youteriasvocê meaning you, sg.ele meaning he, itela meaning she, itterianós meaning weteríamosvós* meaning you, formalteríeisvocês meaning you, pl.eles, elas meaning theyteriamThe past participle is a form of a verb that is often used in Brazilian Portuguese perfect tenses.
Regular past participles usually end in -ado or -ido.
andar meaning to walk ⇒ andado meaning walked
Irregular past participles have forms that must be memorized.
abrir meaning to open ⇒ aberto meaning opened
When to use the conditional perfect?
The conditional perfect is used to talk about events and situations that could have happened in the past, but for some reason did not. For example:
Below, you will read about when to use the conditional perfect. Let’s start!
Using the conditional perfect in if-then sentences
The conditional perfect can be used in some “unreal” if-then sentences. We use the perfect conditional to describe the outcome that would have taken place in the past if some condition had been met. In these cases, though, the condition was not met, and so the result is “unreal” or “hypothetical.” For example:
In these types of sentences, pluperfect subjunctive is used for the condition that was not met (the “if” part of the sentence) while the conditional perfect is used for the hypothetical result (the “then” part of the sentence).
In some cases, you can replace the conditional perfect in this type of sentence with other verb tenses:
Past perfect
In informal written and spoken language, we can optionally use the past perfect indicative instead of the conditional perfect.
pluperfect subjunctivepast perfectSe eu tivesse acordado mais cedo, tinha visto o sol nascer.Translation:Literally: If I had woken up earlier, I had seen the sunrise.Conditional simple
If the hypothetical result would have impacted the present or the future instead of the past, we always use the conditional simple instead of the conditional perfect:
pluperfect subjunctiveconditional simpleSe tivesse visto a previsão do tempo, não estaria com frio agora.Translation: If I had seen the forecast, I would not be cold now.
Using the conditional perfect to speculate
The conditional perfect can be used outside of a conditional sentence, as long as you are still speculating or imagining what would have happened in the past, if something had gone differently:
Using the conditional perfect to wonder about past events
The conditional perfect is used to wonder or indicate uncertainty about something that happened in the past.
Most often, this happens in questions that do not require a response, as in:
conditional perfectQuem teria tentado me ligar ontem de manhã?Translation: Who would have tried to call me yesterday morning?But you can also use it in statements, to indicate that you’re alleging that something took place, but that your statement hasn’t been corroborated, as in:
conditional perfectOs especialistas acreditam que Picasso teria feito essa pintura.Translation: The specialists believed that Picasso would have done this painting.
Summary
In this post, we talked about the form and use of the conditional perfect.
This is a compound verb tense formed by combining ter meaning to have, in the conditional simple, and with a main verb in its past participle form.
The conditional perfect is used to describe what would have, could have, or might have happened in the past:
Use Type Example Condition
Se tivesse visto a previsão do tempo, não teria saído de casa sem minha jaqueta de inverno.Translation: If I had seen the forecast, I would not have gotten out of my house without my winter jacket.Speculation
Eu acho que teria tido coragem de mudar de país.Translation: I think that I would have had the courage to change the country.Uncertainty
Teria sido o Carlos que deixou esse presente aqui?Translation: Would it have been Carlos who left this gift here?
Now, it’s time to practice the conditional perfect with this activity!
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