Conditional sentences III: unreal past & mixed

What it is

Unreal past conditionals imagine a past that didn't happen and its result: If I had known, I would have gone. Portuguese puts se + tivesse + participle in the condition and teria + participle in the result. In everyday speech the result is usually tinha + participle. Mixed conditionals cross the timeline: a past cause with a result today, or a permanent situation with a past result.

How to form it

Either half can come first: Eu teria ido se tivesse sabido. Negation goes before the auxiliary: Se você não tivesse me avisado, eu não teria percebido. In speech, an object pronoun goes between the auxiliary and the participle: Se você tivesse me ligado…

When to use it

The unreal past

For regret, criticism, relief and alternative history:

• Se a gente tivesse saído mais cedo, não teria pegado trânsito.
• Se não tivesse chovido, o show teria sido incrível.
• Se você tivesse me avisado, eu tinha ido te buscar. (speech)

Mixed conditionals

A past cause with a present result keeps tivesse + participle and puts the result in the simple conditional (estaria, seria) or, in speech, the imperfect (estava): Se eu tivesse aceitado aquele emprego, hoje estaria morando em Manaus. A general situation with a past result uses the imperfect subjunctive in the condition: Se ela não falasse inglês, não teria conseguido a vaga.

Regret and reproach without se

• Eu devia ter avisado antes. (I should have warned you earlier.) Also deveria ter, and in speech tinha que ter.
• Você podia ter me ajudado! (You could have helped me!) Also poderia ter.
• Se não fosse você, eu não teria conseguido. (If it hadn't been for you…)

A speech shortcut to recognise

Brazilians often let the simple imperfect subjunctive cover the past: Se eu soubesse, não tinha vindo = If I'd known, I wouldn't have come. The context shows it's about the past. Understand it; in writing prefer tivesse sabido … teria vindo.

Contrasts and traps

• No conditional after se: Se eu teria sabido is wrong in every register. After se: tivesse.
• No subjunctive in the result: Se eu tivesse sabido, tivesse ido is wrong. The result is teria or tinha.
• tinha + participle has two jobs: a plain pluperfect (Quando cheguei, ele tinha ido embora) or a spoken conditional result. The se clause tells you which.
• tiver vs tivesse: Se até sexta você tiver terminado… is an open future; Se você tivesse terminado na sexta… is a past that didn't happen.
• Não fosse…: written Portuguese can drop se: Não fosse a chuva, teríamos ido à praia = Se não fosse a chuva… (If it hadn't been for the rain…).

If you speak Spanish

Si hubiera sabido, habría ido → Se eu tivesse sabido, teria ido. Three habits to break. Spanish lets hubiera appear in both halves (si lo hubiera sabido, hubiera ido); Portuguese doesn't: the result is teria or tinha, never tivesse. The auxiliary is always ter: haveria ido sounds archaic. And debería haber avisado is devia ter avisado, again with ter.