# FR: could have / should have / would have / must have / might have



## Mikie8421

Hello!!

I know there have been other treads on similar topics as this, but I'm trying to put them all together in my head and would like to know if the following translations are correct.

I have to go to the movies = Je dois aller au cinéma
I could go to the movies = Je pourrais aller au cinéma
I should go to the movies = Je devrais aller au cinéma
I might go to the movies = Je vais peut-être au cinéma
I would go to the movies = J'irais au cinéma
I must have gone to the movies = J'ai dû aller au cinéma
I could have gone to the movies = J'aurais pu aller au cinéma
I should have gone to the movies = J'aurais dû aller au cinéma
I might have gone to the movies = Je suis peut-être allé au cinéma
I would have gone to the movies = Je serais allé au cinéma

I know it's a lot, but if anyone can check these sentances I would really appreciate it!!

Merci d'avance
Mike

*Moderator note: *multiple threads merged to create this one


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## KLeM

Sounds perfect to me.


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## marget

[...]

_If I might have gone to the movies_ means _maybe I went to the movies_, then I agree completely with KLeM.


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## geostan

I could go to the movies is sometimes expressed as an imperfect, e.g.
He asked me if he could go to the movies. Il m'a demandé s'il pouvait aller au cinéma. The trick is to determine what tense would be used in direct speech.

I might go to the movies cannot be translated by the present + peut-être.
Either the imperfect or conditional tense would be required according to the context.

He asked if he might go to the movies. (permission)  Il m'a demandé s'il pouvait aller au cinéma.

I might go to the movies if someone asked me to. (possibility) Several possibilities here, one of which would be: Je irais peut-être au cinéma si quelqu'un m'y invitait.

I would go to the movies is usual as a conditional with one exception. As an equivalent to "used to go" it would be rendered by the imperfect, e.g.

When I was a kid, I would go to the movies every Saturday afternoon. ... j'allais au cinéma...

 I must have gone to the movies is often translated by the passé composé, but note that as a clause in indirect speech dependant on an introductory verb in the past, it would be translated by the pluperfect, e.g.

I told him that they must have gone to the movies.  Je lui ai dit qu'ils avaient dû aller au cinéma.

There are other nuances that plague one in dealing with these modal verbs, but I think these will get you through most of the situations.


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## LeGuch

Yes, the only tricky one there is 

_I might have gone to the movies _

only because one usually knows if they've gone to the movies. Because of this, I tend to read the sentence as meaning 

Je serais allé au cinéma (si qqch ne m'était pas arrivé).

...an unfortunate consequence of the fact that in English, "might" can mean "maybe" OR it can take the place of "would" in forming the condtional tense.

I agree that an unambiguous way to convey the original meaning is:

_Maybe I went to the movies_


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## teddyvc

geostan said:


> There are other nuances that plague one in dealing with these modal verbs, but I think these will get you through most of the situations.



I agree with Geostan. Besides, the English translations can be misleading. They must be put in context, ex. J'ai du aller au cinema. may mean "i had to go to the movies" depending on the context; Je dois aller au cinema may mean "I ought to (or) must go to the movies." and "je suis peut-etre alle au cinema" is rather awkward.


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## LeGuch

Fundamentally, though, Mikie your translations are "textbook" correct (absent any context) and are a good starting point for understanding how would/could/should are expressed in French.


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## lazrlife

Right I couldnt figure out how to say these in French they must be similar in French so I put them together
Can you tell me how to say should, could and would in French please?


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## lezouave

see the conditional mood for: devoir, pouvoir, vouloir


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## flobel

I don't agree totally.

you should... : tu devrais ...
you could ... : tu aurais pu ...
you would ... : depends on the sentence, express a conditionnal thing. But it doesn't mean vouloir.

Florian


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## lezouave

Of course. I must have been sleeping. Thanks for pointing that out. To elucidate for the original poster--English doesn't have a conditional mood for verbs themselves as do latin languages, they require a auxiliary verb to create the mood, so I would like: Je voudrais, I would sing: Je chanterais.

steve


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## esprit

* just a little clarification... you could = tu pourrais...
tu aurais pu   = you could _have_


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## CXavier

J'ai besoin d'aide avec ces phrases s'il vous plait

1) I would have gone to the restaurant
   Je serrai allé au restaurant
2) I should have gone
    J'aurais dû aller
3)  I could have gone
     J'aurais pu aller
4)  I must have gone
     J'ai dû aller 
    C'est correcte

Merci


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## melu85

1) I would have gone to the restaurant
Je *serais *allé au restaurant
2) I should have gone
J'aurais dû aller
3) I could have gone
J'aurais pu aller
4) I must have gone
J'ai dû aller


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## CXavier

Le derniere phrase

I might have gone to the restaurant
Je suis peut-etre allé au restaurant


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## OLN

Je serais peut-être allé au restaurant.


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## melu85

I might have gone to the restaurant
Je suis peut-etre allé au restaurant
Je serais peut-être allé au restaurant.

both answers work

and j'étais peut-être allé au restaurant work too


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## fredlovecdl

Hi, 

Are there exactly equivalent expressions in french for

should've/must've/would've/could've

Je vous remercie!


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## Lacuzon

Bonjour,

A priori :
Should have = devrait avoir
Must have = doit avoir
Would have = aurait
Could have = pourrait avoir


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## Oddmania

I agree with Lacuzon, but it may be different.

*You should have done your homework :* Tu aurais dû faire tes devoirs.
*She must have missed the bus :* Elle a dû manqué le bus.
*I would have done it if I had know that... :* Je l'aurais fais si j'avais su que...
*You could have died! :* Tu aurais pu mourir !
...


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## LV4-26

Not to mention....

_Everyday, I *would have* dinner with my friends_
(A cette époque), je dînais avec mes amis tous les jours.


I agree it may seem far-fetched but I just mean to stress the importance of context.


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## Thomas1

I'm wondering about one thing, aren't these abbreviations only in auxiliary use? I.e. 'could've' may be used to express some guess about the past: He could have done it. but you wouldn't use it in a sentence where 'have' has its lexical meaning like: He could've a car, no?


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## geostan

That is correct.


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## jacquesbda

_I must have gone to the movies = J'ai dû aller au cinéma._
I thought J'ai dû aller au cinéma = I had to go to the movies. ??

Elle aurait dû allé au cinema. = She must have gone to the movies. (i.e. I think that's what she did)  ??
Elle aurait pû allé au cinema. = She may/might have gone to the movies. (i.e. I think that's something she may well have done)  ??


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## geostan

Welcome to the forum.

Elle aurait dû _*aller*_...  She should have/ought to have gone...
Elle aurait *pu aller*...  She might have/could have gone...

As for J'ai dû aller. The meaning could be either depending on the context

Cheers!


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## Maître Capello

_Elle aurait *dû* aller_ → She should have/ought to have gone 
_ Elle aurait *pu* aller_  → She could have gone  / She might have gone  (You should use “might” only if there is an adverb such as _peut-être, éventuellement_…)


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## geostan

I never heard such a rule for _might have gone_. Indeed, *perhaps* is already implied in the word _might_. It would be unnecessary to express it. At any rate, context would dictate which English expression would be appropriate.


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## LV4-26

Geostan, I don't totally agree with MC here.

To me, _elle aurait pu aller_ is a possible translation for _she might have gone_.

However (which is why I added _totally_), _elle aurait pu aller_ is ambiguous and, most of the time, will be interpreted as meaning _she *could* have gone_.

_Elle aurait pu aller_, in the sense of _she might have gone_, is of fairly limited use. For some reason, _elle a/avait pu aller_ is more readily understood as _she *may/might* -- _rather than _can -- have gone _and will be preferred to the former. Even though it's not the same tense, there are very few contexts where it will make a real difference in meaning.

Examples
_- Qu'est-ce qu'elle fait ? Pourquoi n'est-elle pas encore là ?
- *Elle a pu aller* à la mauvaise adresse et ne pas retrouver son chemin._

In the past
_Je me demandais ce qu'elle faisait. Robert me suggéra qu'*elle avait pu aller* à la mauvaise adresse et ne pas retrouver son chemin._


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## Keith Bradford

The only detail I'd take issue with in all this is the use of *may/might*. English people increasingly use may instead of might, while in my view the meanings are entirely different. E.g.

Napoleon may have won the battle of Waterloo = Je ne sais pas si Napoléon a gagné la bataille de W. ou non.
Napoleon might have won the battle of Waterloo = Napoléon aurait pu gagner la bataille de W. (si Wellington n'avait etc...)

So the option "I may have gone to the cinema" = "Je suis peut-être allé au cinéma (mais je ne sais plus / je ne veux pas l'avouer)."


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## Maître Capello

LV4-26 said:


> _Je me demandais ce qu'elle faisait. Robert me suggéra qu'*elle avait pu aller* à la mauvaise adresse et ne pas retrouver son chemin._


To me, that would be the translation of “that she *may* have gone”, not *might*.

To translate your sentence, I would indeed say:

_Robert me suggéra qu'*elle pourrait être allée* à la mauvaise adresse…_


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## Keith Bradford

Maître Capello said:


> To me, that would be the translation of “that she *may* have gone”, not *might*_…_




I disagree. This is reported speech, so it has to be put in the past, according to very straightforward English rules.  Robert suggests: "She may have gone." ==> Robert suggested that she might have gone.


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## LV4-26

Maître Capello said:


> To translate your sentence, I would indeed say:
> _Robert me suggéra qu'*elle pourrait être allée* à la mauvaise adresse…_


I see. I'd equally use one of these two
- _elle avait pu aller_
- _elle pouvait être allée_

and, with less likelihood
- _elle pourrait être allée. _
which I would reserve for the present (direct speech in my example) ==>
- _Tu as une idée de ce qui s'est passé ?_
- _Je ne sais pas, je cherche. Elle pourrait être allée à la mauvaise adresse mais je ne pense pas._
(lower probability than with _elle a pu aller_).
_
EDIT: _I agree with you that _pouvait/pourrait être allée_ is more suggestive of _may_.
But I think usage varies depending on the speaker on this specific matter.
I asked my wife and she sides with you.


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## Mick's Wife

Bonjour tout le monde. Despite living and working in France for 9 years I still haven't got a clear understanding of how to use each of these terms. It seems they are interchangeable in French which they certainly aren't in English. Could somebody please clarify for me. My try:

I should have (eaten before I came) - j'aurais dû + infinitive (j'aurais dû manger avant de venir).

I could have (eaten before I came) - j'aurais pu + infinitive (j'aurais pu manger avant de venir)

I would have (eaten before I came if I had known) - j'aurais + (I'm lost here - is it the passé simple?)

I must have (eaten it before) - je devais + ? Je devais la mangé avant????

Merci d'avance.


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## The Broken Rib Inn

The first and second sentences are right.

In the third one, you can't have a passé simple after the auxiliaries "avoir" and "être", but always a past participle.
_J'aurais *mangé* avant de venir si j'avais *su*.

_"Je devais" means "I had to". So, "I must have eaten it before" means "J'ai dû le/la manger avant".


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## Morganlove

"I must have eaten it before" means "J'ai dû/Je devais le manger avant".

Must have means either "J'ai dû" or "Je devais", it depends on the context.

"I had to" also means je devais, but one more time I would say the use depends on the context, it does not always give the same sense as "must have"

Some example the get the situation clearer.

"Hier soir,_* je pense que je devais danser avec elle*_ lorsque tu était au bar" translated by "Last night, I think _*I must have been*_ dancing with her, when your were at the bar" (Nobody gave me the obligation of dancing with her, I just went dancing with her)

"Hier soir, _*on m'a dit que je devais danser *_avec elle lorsque tu était au bar, donc j'y suis allé" translated by "Last night, someone told me _*I had to*_ dance with her, when your were at the bar, thus I went there" (I was almost obligated, someone told me to go dancing with her)

Another example for must have : Je pense que à ce moment là, je devais avoir le droit de faire sa"

Translation : "I think that at this moment, I _*must have had*_ the right to do that"

The nuance is really clear.
Hope you will see the nuance and that it will help


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## The Broken Rib Inn

Tout à fait d'accord sur "Must have", je dis n'importe quoi, je vais aller corriger ça !


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