# I wish I had never met you



## tablecloth

The lyrics of the song "Feelings" goes: "I wish I have never met you...". Is that OK? I've always thought is is "I wish I had never met you".
Thank you.


----------



## Bilbo Baggins

tablecloth said:


> The lyrics of the song "Feelings" goes: "I wish I have never met you...". Is that OK? I've always thought is is "I wish I have never met you".
> Thank you.



Hola:

¡Te repetiste! En teoría, debería ser: I wish I *had* never met you. pero este ejemplo es de un canción y por eso es informal.


----------



## Natandu

"I wish I have never met you" is not correct, doesn't make sense in that form.  

I wish I had never met you
I wish I'd never had met you

Makes more sense to me


----------



## tablecloth

Thank you very much. I posted my question twice because I couldn't find my thread (I don't know why yet).
You have been most helpful. Though I have to say that this is the first time I read a sentence such as " I wish I'd never had met you", for me that has one too many "Hads". Am I right?


----------



## Bilbo Baggins

It should be: I wish I had never met you.


----------



## Natandu

tablecloth said:


> Thank you very much. I posted my question twice because I couldn't find my thread (I don't know why yet).
> You have been most helpful. Though I have to say that this is the first time I read a sentence such as " I wish I'd (I would) never had met you", for me that has one too many "Hads". Am I right?


----------



## tablecloth

Thank you! I don't know why I didn't think of "would". Could you please give me another example of the use of this tense "I would had never+ past participle" without "I wish"?


----------



## abuelito

I wish I'd (I would) never had have met you.
I wish I had never met you.

I would ( I'd) never have left without you had I known how much you cared.


----------



## MarX

Since we're on the subject already, how do you say it in Spanish?

*Espero no haberte encontrado*   ?


----------



## Diddy

La traducción al español sería:

*Ojalá nunca te hubiera conocido.*


----------



## tablecloth

Thank you very much. I've been quite busy trying to find any other examples of the tense "I would had + past partiple" which was totally unknown to me. Has anyone has another example?
Otherwise I will conclude that it doesn't exist.
Thank you again.
Saludos.


----------



## Ynez

tablecloth, abuelito already explained it to you. That "had" was a typo.


----------



## tablecloth

Sorry, ynez, you are right, I won't insist.  Thank you.


----------



## Natandu

abuelito said:


> I wish I'd (I would) never had have met you.
> I wish I had never met you.
> 
> I would ( I'd) never have left without you had I known how much you cared.


 
Why have you changed 'had' to 'have' in the first example?


----------



## Ynez

Natandu, you seem to be very confused about this.

After *would* there will always be a *bare infinitive* (clean, do, say...).

If it is the perfect form, then it will be a *perfect infinitive without to* (have cleaned, have done, have said...).

I *would have cleared* it better if I knew how.


----------



## Feral_squirrel

I agree with natandu actually, it sounds better with 'had' not 'have' because it's in the past. It sounded more natural like that when i read the first one and when i read the correction in didn't. Could be dialect but that's the way i've always said it.

Now i can't stop saying them both in my head just to be sure!


----------



## Ynez

Well, what you probably say is "*I wish I'd met you*" = "I wish I had met you".

If you in fact say "would had", you are free to, but it's *totally incorrect*.


----------



## Natandu

Ynes, I'm not confused at all thank you. I'm a native English speaker and while I accept the correction, it's not something I would say naturally with 'never', hence the question. 

It's an unreal situation with I wish and perfect past 'seemed' more natural in a expression that could be said in more ways.


----------



## bailamojo

Ynez and abuelito are *totally right*.

You could also say, "I wish I'd [I had] never met you."


----------



## Ynez

Thank you bailamojo.

Natandu, maybe it would be a good idea if you take this topic to the English Only forum. Here we are trying to learn English.


----------



## Natandu

Ynez said:


> Thank you bailamojo.
> 
> Natandu, maybe it would be a good idea if you take this topic to the English Only forum. Here we are trying to learn English.


 
Be my guest, I'm only trying to help the original poster.  Aqui, estoy intendando aprender español.


----------



## Zeli

abuelito said:


> I wish I'd (I would) never had have met you.
> I wish I had never met you.
> 
> I would ( I'd) never have left without you had I known how much you cared.


 
No, the 'd isn't short for would; it's short for HAD.  I wish I had never met you.  It's the pluperfect.


----------



## abuelito

Thanks Ynez,

You are absolutely correct. I would have had to correct you if you were wrong.

I love this forum, where English speaking people can learn English from a Spanish speaking person.

Saludos,

abuelito


----------



## bailamojo

I wish I had never met you. *BEST*
I wish I would never have met you. *WORDY and NOT AS GOOD*

In informal English, *I'd *can be *I had *[*better*] or *I would *[*not so good*].


----------



## Natandu

abuelito said:


> Thanks Ynez,
> 
> You are absolutely correct. I would have had to correct you if you were wrong.
> 
> I love this forum, where English speaking people can learn English from a Spanish speaking person.  Indeed
> 
> Saludos,
> 
> abuelito


----------



## mhp

The ‘had’ in that sentence is actually the infamous English subjunctive. A lot of native speakers tend to use ‘had’ and ‘would have’ interchangeably in such cases. However, such change is often considered unacceptable in careful speech and writing—the ‘correct’ form is to use the subjunctive had.


----------



## abuelito

I would have had to correct you and I'd have had to correct you have the same meaning.  In no way does I'd have had to correct you mean I had have had to correct you.


----------



## bailamojo

abuelito said:


> I would have had to correct you and I'd have had to correct you have the same meaning.  In no way does I'd have had to correct you mean I had have had to correct you.



Tienes razón!


----------



## tablecloth

I'm really grateful for all your explanations. In fact, what I was really wandering was if you could say "I wish I have never met you", in any dialect, even if it was not really widespread, but now I know it was only a kind of 'poetic license' (I don't know if this idiom really exists in English) so I'm completely safisfied.  Thank you again.
Saludos.


----------



## bailamojo

Tablecloth,

Yes, "poetic license" exists as an idiom in English.

I have to say I'd be surprised, honestly, if "I wish I have never met you" is a correct representation of the lyrics.  I certainly could be wrong, but I've never heard that construction as a common idiomatic pattern in the US (I've lived in the NE, SE, and spend lots of times with folks from the midwest and west coast).  It's just as likely that it was incorrectly transcribed somewhere.

Good luck!


----------



## tablecloth

In fact, I've listened to it quite carefully and it really sounds like "I've", but, of course I can be mistaken. And I've also read the lyrics, but it was on the internet, so I don't have any reliable source. Anyway, it is not so important, and I feel a bit guilty about bringing up ( or is it bringing about?) such a controversial topic.
Thank you all.
Saludos.


----------



## MarX

Diddy said:


> La traducción al español sería:
> 
> *Ojalá nunca te hubiera conocido.*


 
Todavía no te he agradecido.

Pues, gracias por tu respuesta.


----------



## tijita

I realize this is a long-gone thread, but for the record, "I wish I _*would *_never* had* met you*" *sounds 100% *incorrect* to me (I believe *have* met is the only correct option)*.*  Perhaps they say it that way in England, but in my opinion the sentence is never formed with "would...had" in American English.  

Respectfully,

tijita


----------



## Zeli

This has already been corrected above.


----------



## tijita

How did I miss that?  Thanks...


----------

