I was reading a sentence from a novel that read in English, "My own father might have said the same thing in different words." Google translate gave me as its German equivalent,"Mein eigener Vater hätte das vielleicht mit anderen Worten gesagt." That follows the normal grammatical rules of past participle at the end of the clause.
My own translation would be "Mein eigener Vater hätte das gesagt, vielleicht mit anderen Worten." This would break up the sentence into two clauses, and put "gesagt" at the end of the first clause. I believe that I have seen a similar construction in other contexts, and want to know if this is a valid one.
How do native speakers determine where to put the "gesagt?" This really means when do I use two clauses versus one?