In English one can say, "I would have had", which is a bit different than saying "I would have". How do you construct the two in German?
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5I object against closing this question. It is a question about German grammar. The question uses an English construction to make clear what is being asked for. Imho, it is not a translation service request, and it is a misunderstanding to perceive it as such. I don't believe the guidelines should be interpreted in a way that would lead to closing. And either way, I believe we should be open to such questions.– Jonathan Herrera ♦Commented Sep 19, 2020 at 20:40
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Could you add one or two examples with full sentences, including the if clause? I think there is no direct equivalent to this in German, and the way to translate this would depend on context. "If I had talked to my ex at the party, I would have had been married to someone else for two years by then" is quite a different use from "If you had been at the party, we would have had met there."– HalvarFCommented Sep 19, 2020 at 20:42
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2For anyone who is as confused about this as I was, see this English grammar page. An example (from there): “I would have had a puppy if only my parents had thought I was responsible.” Third conditional for English is explained here, the only difference here is that "have" is the main verb as well as being an auxiliary verb.– RDBuryCommented Sep 19, 2020 at 21:39
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@HalvarF -- I think I know what you're going for with "I would have had been married to someone else...," but such a strain on grammar would require a rephrase to keep everyone's heads from exploding. "If I had talked to my ex at the party, I would have been, at that time, married to someone else for two years."– RDBuryCommented Sep 19, 2020 at 22:21
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You would get a better sense if you could do without ambiguous "have". Do you really need two haves? Any other way you can construct the meaning? Because in "I would have had a pet" the second have is not the auxiliary verb but the actual to have as in owning.– Gunther SchadowCommented Sep 20, 2020 at 6:21
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2 Answers
You could use a form with "würde" or (rather seldom, somewhat dialect) "täte":
Ich würde es gemacht haben, wenn man mich gefragt hätte.
meaning "I would have had done it, had I been asked". This is expressing a past conditional.
But in most cases one would not differentiate this and would just say
Ich hätte es gemacht, wenn man mich gefragt hätte.
literally: "I would have done it, had I been asked."
answered Sep 19, 2020 at 15:03
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Thats what I was confused about a bit, isn't Ich hätte gemacht and Ich würde gemacht haben, essentially I would have? So in general isnt Plusquamperfekt and Futur 2 in Konjuntiv 2 the same? But in English I would say there is a subtle difference between I would have and I would have had. Commented Sep 19, 2020 at 15:12
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Would you please consider community guidelines? This is obviously a translation service request.– OlafantCommented Sep 19, 2020 at 18:13
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@Olafant I consider this a question about grammar nuances in German. I cannot recognize a translation service request and in my humble opinion your claim is by no means "obvious".– Jonathan Herrera ♦Commented Sep 19, 2020 at 20:37
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"Ich würde es gemacht haben, " sounds just wrong for "Ich hätte es gemacht". Commented Sep 20, 2020 at 6:17
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"I would have had done it" I think you confuse the auxiliary verb here. The second have sounds like having someone else do it? Commented Sep 20, 2020 at 6:18
I'd translate “I would have” as “Ich hätte” or rarely “Ich würde haben” and “I would have had” as “Ich hätte gehabt” or rarely “Ich würde gehabt haben”.
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I don't know, I think the other answerer didn't really understand the question. English doesn't have a "I would have had done it" verb tense. Commented Sep 21, 2020 at 12:10
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BTW, "gehabt haben" is something that contemporary Germans find funny. We can construct these meanings, but we chuckle, and some people say it's wrong. Commented Sep 21, 2020 at 16:27