Conditional perfect formation

Regular formation of conditional perfect

would have + Infinitive + „-ed“

The formation of the Conditional 2 is also simple. Because from a normal sentence, you just have to write would have in front of your verb and add “-ed” to your verb. However, you must follow the correct English word order.

would not have +  Infinitive + „-ed“

Accordingly, the negation is not much hard, because you only need to write a not between your would and have.

Irregular:

In contrast to the usage, or the general apprehension, there are no irregularities in the conditional 2 in English!

What has to be considered in the conditional perfect tense!

Spelling:

1. Verbs whose end is a consonant + “-y”:

Here, the “-y” becomes an “-i”:

• tidy becomes tidied

2. Ends the verb with “-e”.

This eliminates the “-e”:

• love becomes loved
• like becomes liked

3. Ends the verb with “-er”,”-ur” or “-ir“:

Thus, the “-r” doubles in the formation:

• prefer becomes preferred

4. Ends the verb on a consonant with a simple, short, emphasized vowel:

This doubles the consonant.

• stop becomes stopped

(Vowel = a, e, i, o, u)

Just no confusion:

Both “would not” and “I would” are equated with “wouldn’ t” or “I’d”.

Conditional 2 simple examples

Normal sentences

I would have learned.

Negative sentences

I would not have learned.  /  I wouldn’t have learned.

interrogative sentence

Would I have learned?

Conditional 2 simple signal words

Therefore, the first use (If-sentences) must have an If. However, there are no real signal words per se.

How to use conditional perfect!

• As a result, the conditional 2 is used in the main clause of a type 3 IF-sentence, which contains an impossible condition.
• Moreover, the conditional perfect is still used in subjunctive 2.

(Example: We would have won anyone.)