# Podría haberte ayudado / Habría podido ayudarte



## gurseal

¿Son correctas las dos para decir "I would have been able to help you"?
¿Sólo la segunda?
¿Qué diferencias hay entre las dos?

Gracias de antemano.


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## stretch

Lots of people will tell you there's no difference, but I say there is.

1.  I could have helped you
2.  I would have been able to help you.


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## gurseal

Excuse the error in the thread title.


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## ingrid_r

I'm one of those "lots of people" who will tell you there's no difference.


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## gurseal

That was fast, Stretch. Thanks. Gracias, Ingrid.

Me interesa saber también si la primera versión es considerada coloquial, pero no aceptable con respeto a la gramática.


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## stretch

ingrid_r said:


> I'm one of those "lots of people" who will tell you there's no difference.


 Lol!  Then you probably don't see a difference in the English either, right?


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## Aidanriley

There's a huge difference.
I could have helped<-- This means you had the capability of helping. It does mean you WOULD have, it simply means you had the capability of helping at some time in the past.

Is "I could have been a girl" the same as "I would have been a girl"?


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## stretch

Aidanriley said:


> There's a huge difference.
> I could have helped<-- This means you had the capability of helping. It does mean you WOULD have, it simply means you had the capability of helping at some time in the past.
> 
> Is "I could have been a girl" the same as "I would have been a girl"?


 
Actually, Aidan, I think the issue is "I could have" vs. "I would have been able to"


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## ingrid_r

That's being very picky.
The thing is, *if A had asked, B would have helped A*.

Regarding Aidanriley's remark about being a girl, I DO see the difference between both sentences, but that has nothing to do with the original thread.


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## stretch

ingrid_r said:


> That's being very picky.
> The thing is, *if A had asked, B would have helped A*.
> 
> Regarding Aidanriley's remark about being a girl, I DO see the difference between both sentences, but that has nothing to do with the original thread.


 
Actually, Ingrid, it's not "would have," but rather "would have been able to/could have," and noone ever said anything about asking for anything.  Translating is not a job of making up new information to add to the original. 

 Sorry, but it's my job to be picky!


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## gurseal

Can anyone please explain *podria haber* as *I would have been able*_,_ when the past participle is missing in the Spanish version?

I'm lost.
Is this accepted because it's correct, or is it correct because it's accepted?


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## ingrid_r

The question is between "podría haberte ayudado" and "habría podido ayudarte"
No difference.


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## stretch

ingrid_r said:


> The question is between "podría haberte ayudado" and "habría podido ayudarte"
> No difference.


 
Right...at least about the phrases in question.  You changed it completely in your previous post.

There is a difference.  Not everyone likes it.  Oh well!


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## Meri51767

stretch said:


> Lol! Then you probably don't see a difference in the English either, right?


 
I can see the difference in english but in spanish they're the same and you can swap them anywhere.


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## stretch

gurseal said:


> Can anyone please explain *podria haber* as *I would have been able*_,_ when the past participle is missing in the Spanish version?
> 
> I'm lost.
> Is this accepted because it's correct, or is it correct because it's accepted?


 
Gurseal, "podría haberte ayudado" is the phrase I have translated as "could have helped you."  "Habría podido ayudarte" is what you are referring to, it seems..."would have been able to help you".

Does that help?


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## ingrid_r

Maybe the same difference between a male and a female ant to the human eye.


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## stretch

Meri51767 said:


> I can see the difference in english but in spanish they're the same and you can swap them anywhere.


 
They sure look the same, don't they?  I think the average Spanish-speaker would agree.  Not everyone is so inclined to notice nuances such as these.  It would actually be very annoying to do so for common conversation.  But, we also do similar things with English.  Take for example the phrase "a whole 'nother ______".  It should technically be either "another" or "a whole other" but commonly we combine the two, and noone seems to care that much.  But there are people who notice.  Thank God for them!


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## stretch

ingrid_r said:


> Maybe the same difference between a male and a female ant to the human eye.


 
Then there are some people who prefer to use amazingly powerful microscopes, too.


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## ingrid_r

Yes, but you don't read a book with a microscope.


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## Meri51767

stretch said:


> They sure look the same, don't they? I think the average Spanish-speaker would agree. Not everyone is so inclined to notice nuances such as these. It would actually be very annoying to do so for common conversation. But, we also do similar things with English. Take for example the phrase "a whole 'nother ______". It should technically be either "another" or "a whole other" but commonly we combine the two, and noone seems to care that much. But there are people who notice. Thank God for them!


 
Ok, I have being thinking and I have found some examples where you can't swap them. But it is true that without a context for a spanish speaker they will mean exactly the same. My example:

-You are telling a story to a friend about yesterday night and you say that you felt down, you broke your leg and everybody who was with you went away and you on your own stood up phoned a taxi and went to hospital. So your friend answers:

"¡Podrían haberte ayudado!" (case in which "habrían podido ayudarte doesn't fit")


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## stretch

ingrid_r said:


> Yes, but you don't read a book with a microscope.


 
Who said this was from a book?


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## ingrid_r

Who said anything about a powerful microscope?


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## stretch

ingrid_r said:


> Who said anything about a powerful microscope?


 This is getting ridiculous...I'll send you a private message!


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## ingrid_r

Sorry about that, gurseal.
I think now you must be even more confused than before your post...
Let's say that, in case there is a difference, it is soooooo small that using one or the other won't really make a difference.


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## stretch

ingrid_r said:


> Sorry about that, gurseal.
> I think now you must be even more confused than before your post...
> Let's say that, in case there is a difference, it is soooooo small that using one or the other won't really make a difference.


 
For all practical purposes in everyday speech, I agree with you ingrid, that it normally makes no difference.  I just wanted the poster to see all the possibilities, since he/she asked.


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## gurseal

Gracias a todos.


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## Meri51767

stretch said:


> For all practical purposes in everyday speech, I agree with you ingrid, that it normally makes no difference. I just wanted the poster to see all the possibilities, since he/she asked.


 
I'm a mixture of both opinions. I think the difference they two mean the same but, as I have written in one post of mine above, there are some few cases in which you can only use one of them.


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## chileno

gurseal said:


> ¿Son correctas las dos para decir "I would have been able to help you"?
> ¿Sólo la segunda?
> ¿Qué diferencias hay entre las dos?
> 
> Gracias de antemano.





stretch said:


> Lots of people will tell you there's no difference, but I say there is.
> 
> 1.  I could have helped you    Podría haberte ayudado.
> 2.  I would have been able to help you.  Habría (sido capaz de/podido) ayudarte



Soy otro que no conoce de gramática española correctamente, y te puedo asegurar que en español, puedes usar las dos, porque significan lo mismo, por lo menos para mi.

También estoy de acuerdo con Stretch en la forma de traducirlo.


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## SydLexia

syd asks (stirring wildly): And what about "Podía haberte ayudado" ??

And stretch, 'nadie' is two words in English...


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## stretch

Thanks Syd...you are right--two words, or with a hyphen. Forgot my hyphen, so thanks for catching my error! 
no-one, no one.


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## Metzaka

Así lo interpreto yo:

*Podría haberte ayudado ------I could've helped you*
*Habría podido ayudarte* -------*I would've been able to help you *


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## chileno

SydLexia said:


> And stretch, 'nadie' is two words in English...


You are right! I made a mistake, at least when I posted, I should have added it, too. (and pude also) ;-)


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## TheChabon

But meri I think that is a whole different story --in that situation and with that intonation it actually means 'they should have helped you'. 

Now if you say 
_Quienes estaban contigo podrían haberte ayudado si hubieran querido. _
or
_Quienes estaban contigo habrían podido ayudarte si hubieran querido. _
I think it gets really difficult to figure out the difference.


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