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Podía/podría haber - Tenía/tendría que haber |
When it comes to modal verbs in the past tense, English is a lot more limited than Spanish. For this reason, English speakers often have difficulty differentiating between the meanings in Spanish.
Could have been
Could have + participle can be used to talk about 3 different scenarios:
1. Something that was possible, but we don't know if it happened (speculation - instead of might)
2. Something that would have been possible if something had been different (conditional)
3. Something that was possible at the time, but didn't happen for whatever reason (possibility in the past)
| -John could have finished it |
1. John might have finished it (speculation/possibility) 2. John would have been able to finish (if things had been different) 3. John had the opportunity to finish it but didn't, for whatever reason |
1. John puede/podría/pudo haberlo terminado (es posible que lo terminara /lo haya terminado) 2. John podría haberlo terminado (si las cosas hubieran sido distintas) 3. John podía/pudo haberlo terminado (pudo terminarlo pero no lo hizo; tenía/tuvo la oportunidad; 'podía haber' es más común para expresar remordimiento o reproche) |
To complicate matters further, puede can also be used like podría for a possibility on a single occasion, where English would use might/could, e.g. 'esto puede ser peligroso' —''This might be/could be dangerous'.
In the past pretérito indefinido this leads to possible ambiguity. (Read more)
-El portero pudo parar el penalti — 1. The goalkeeper could have saved the penalty (Pudo haberlo parado -posibilidad) or 2. The goalkeeper was able to save the penalty (habilidad)
As can be seen from the previous example, pudo haberlo parado and pudo paralo amount to the same thing; although the infinitivo compuesto (pudo haberlo parado) makes it clearer that the event is counterfactual, i.e. it didn't happen. This is also true with the modal verb deber.1
Pudimos quedarnos en Inglaterra — We were able to stay/ could have stayed in England
→Pudimos habernos quedado en Inglaterra— We could have stayed in England
Debiste llegar antes — You had to/were supposed to/should have arrived earlier
→Debiste haber llegado antes — You were supposed to/ should have arrived earlier
Should have + participle can mean three different things. English lacks the tenses and modal verbs to translate the Spanish equivalent uniquely.
1. Something that we expect has happened, but we don't know for sure (speculation)
2. Something that was supposed/expected to happen, but for some reason it hasn't/didn't
3. Something that, in retrospect, would have been a good idea to do, but for some reason didn't happen
| -John should have finished it (by now) |
1. Unless there has been some problem, John will have finished it 2. John hasn't finished it, but he was supposed to 3. John hasn't finished it, but it would have been good if he had |
1. John debería de/tendría que haberlo hecho (según lo previsto ya lo habrá hecho) 2. John debía/ tenía que haberlo terminado 3. John debería/ tendría/ tenía que haberlo terminado |
| Additional translations for obligation of an unrealized event in the past. 1 |
debío terminarlo, pero no lo hizo debió haberlo terminado, pero no lo hizo tuvo que haberlo terminado, pero no lo hizo |
'Must have been' also has numerous translations - read article.
In Español-Avanzado Articles
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-Podía haber Podría haber-
