# EN: j'aurais aimé être là



## Lilou85

Bonjour,

Je voulais envoyer un message à quelqu'un qui a eu un souci il y a quelques jours et où je n'était pas présente pour lui dire "J'aurais aimé être là pour pouvoir t'aider"

J'ai pensé à : "I wish I was there so I could have helped you"

Est-ce grammaticalement correct?

Merci pour votre aide et suggestions!


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## lingobingo

_I wish I *had been* there so that I could have helped you._

(If you say "I wish I *was* there", it tends to mean I wish I was there now.)


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## BEEKEEPER

Si j'avais dit: _I would have liked to be there to (be able to) help you_, aurait-ce été correct?


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## Maître Capello

Dans l'absolu, oui, mais pas dans le sens où vous l'entendez, c'est-à-dire pas pour exprimer un regret.


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## BEEKEEPER

Pourquoi  "I would have liked" n'exprime pas un regret?


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## Maître Capello

En fait, il est possible de dire _I would have liked to be there_, mais j'ai l'impression que l'on n'exprime pas autant de regret qu'avec _I wish I had been there_.


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## BEEKEEPER

Merci MC


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## Scrawny goat

Maître Capello said:


> En fait, il est possible de dire _I would have liked to be there_, mais j'ai l'impression que l'on n'exprime pas autant de regret qu'avec _I wish I had been there_.



There is a subtle difference. 'I would have liked to be there' is sometimes used for cases where you knew something was happening, but you had to do something else and could not be there. On the other hand 'I wish I had been there' is firmly in the present tense. It is limited to expressing how you feel now, (and may imply that you would have been there if you knew about it at the time)

En Irlande, en tout cas, on utilise cettes expressions comme ça.


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## Enquiring Mind

Easier and more idiomatic: I wish I had been there to (be able to) help (you)", "I would like to have been there to (be able to) help (you)".

Without wishing to get into a philosophical discussion about any difference between "I would have liked to be" and "I would like to have been", the former (reproducing the French grammar) is clunky in English and certainly used much less than the latter.


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## Scrawny goat

Ah, Enquiring Mind, if you don't wish to get into philosophical discussions, why on earth did you study French?!


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## Enquiring Mind

!


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## BEEKEEPER

Enquiring Mind said:


> Easier and more idiomatic: I wish I had been there to (be able to) help (you)", "I would like to have been there to (be able to) help (you)".
> 
> Without wishing to get into a philosophical discussion about any difference between "I would have liked to be" and "I would like to have been", the former (reproducing the French grammar) is clunky in English and certainly used much less than the latter.



Je prends volontiers tous les conseils mais pourquoi dites-vous  que "would have liked to be" est maladroit (clunky)et calqué sur le français alors que si je google "would have liked to be" j'ai 5 380 000 entrées si je google "would like to have been, j'ai une seule occurrence?


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## Enquiring Mind

One of the mysteries of the universe that we may never understand, or something wrong with Google. Try an Ngram "would like to have been" and " would have liked to be". Alas I'm on a tiny hand-held device and on an international coach, about to lose the territorial wi-fi signal ...


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## BEEKEEPER

J'ai bien saisi le message mais ngram recherche dans des ouvrages de littérature. Qu'en serait-il de l'anglais quotidien?


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## lingobingo

BEEKEEPER said:


> Je prends volontiers tous les conseils mais pourquoi dites-vous  que "would have liked to be" est maladroit (clunky)et calqué sur le français alors que si je google "would have liked to be" j'ai 5 380 000 entrées si je google "would like to have been, j'ai une seule occurrence?



I had a similar experience, except that "would like to have been" produced not a single hit!! However, when I switched to Google Books, the tally was 114,000.


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## BEEKEEPER

lingobingo said:


> I had a similar experience, except that "would like to have been" produced not a single hit!! However, when I switched to Google Books, the tally was 114,000.


Et quel est votre avis sur ce point précis? Auriez-vous dit would have liked to be ou would like to have been?


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## Enquiring Mind

Hi BEEKEEPER, in some contexts (where the action of the verb "like" was only in the past, not at the time of the utterance) and especially in the more formal context of writing, we might be more likely to see "would have liked to *verb*", but frankly I struggle to think of one. Let's take this sentence:
_(1) I would have liked to fly on Concord v. (2) I would like to have flown on Concord._  The action of flying on Concord is no longer possible, of course, but the issue is about the "liking". In most cases, it seems to me, the "liking" continues at the time the speaker makes the statement, and I can't really think of a context where this doesn't apply. To me, (2) is preferable. The same applies here:
_(1) I would have liked to eat the peanuts you offered me yesterday, but I was diagnosed with a nut allergy last year.
(2) I would like to have eaten the peanuts you offered me yesterday, but I was diagnosed with a nut allergy last year.
_
There is more discussion of this here (proz.com), and several previous WR threads here. In short, "would like to have eaten/seen/done/given/heard etc.) is certainly more common in speech in BrE and, in my opinion, in writing too. In some of the previous WR threads I linked to in the previous sentence, some AmE speakers think this version ("would like to have seen") sounds "convoluted" and they say they prefer "would have liked to see".  

"Sur son lit de mort, personne ne se dit: "J’aurais aimé passer plus de temps sur Facebook" (usbeketrica.com)
_On their (_formal/literary_ "his") deathbed, no-one says to himself I would have liked to spend more time on Facebook._ 
_On their (_formal/literary _"his") deathbed, no-one says to himself I would like to have spent more time on Facebook. _ (My BrE preferred version)


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## BEEKEEPER

Merci Enquiring Mind. C'est tellement sympathique de donner de son temps et de son expertise nous aider à progresser .


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