Past hypotheticals and regrets in Brazilian Portuguese

Words for wishing and regretting

• querer que algo fosse diferente🔊wish
• arrepender-se🔊regret

A different past and its result

Se eu tivesse particípio e complemento, teria particípio e complemento.

• informal

  Se eu tivesse saído mais cedo, teria pegado o trem.🔊

  If I'd left earlier, I would have caught the train.

• formal

  Se tivéssemos conferido a data, teríamos chegado na hora.🔊

  If we had checked the date, we would have arrived on time.

A possible result of a different past

Se sujeito tivesse particípio e complemento, talvez tivesse particípio e complemento / poderia ter particípio e complemento.

• informal

  Se ela tivesse se candidatado, talvez tivesse conseguido a vaga.🔊

  If she'd applied, she might have got the job.

• formal

  Se tivéssemos perguntado, poderíamos ter mudado a data.🔊

  If we had asked, we could have changed the date.

A past choice with a consequence now

Se eu tivesse particípio e complemento, agora consequência no condicional.

• informal

  Se eu tivesse aceitado aquele emprego, estaria morando em Paris agora.🔊

  If I'd taken that job, I'd be living in Paris now.

• formal

  Se eu tivesse continuado estudando francês, agora conseguiria falar com nossos clientes.🔊

  If I had kept studying French, I would be able to speak to our clients now.

Expressing regret about the past

For an unreal past condition, use se with the past perfect subjunctive: tivesse or tivéssemos plus a past participle; a counterfactual past result can use teria or teríamos plus a participle, as in “Se eu tivesse saído mais cedo, teria pegado o trem,” corresponding to English “if I had …, I would have …”. Talvez with the subjunctive presents a possible result, while poderia ter plus a participle expresses what could have happened.

For an imagined consequence now, use a conditional form such as estaria or conseguiria: “Se eu tivesse aceitado aquele emprego, estaria morando em Paris agora”; “Quem me dera ter me candidatado àquela vaga!” expresses a wish about an unrealized past action, while arrepender-se de states regret directly, as in “Me arrependo de ter deixado aquela oportunidade passar.”

In these dialogues, você is ordinary, familiar address, while o senhor respectfully addresses a man and a senhora is the corresponding form for a woman; both você and o senhor take third-person singular verb forms, and first-person forms such as tivesse, teria, and estaria do not themselves mark formality. Quem me dera can occur in either setting; pra (for para) is informal, and podia and devia commonly replace poderia and deveria in conversation in these constructions. Deveria ter plus a participle expresses criticism of a past choice, like “should have”; não devia ter expresses “shouldn’t have,” and Pensando bem introduces reconsideration.

• informal

  Quem me dera ter me candidatado àquela vaga!🔊

  I wish I'd applied for that job.

• informal

  Eu provavelmente estaria trabalhando no exterior. Me arrependo de ter deixado aquela oportunidade passar.🔊

  I'd probably be working abroad. I regret letting that chance go.

• formal

  Pensando bem, eu me arrependo de ter mudado a data sem confirmar com o senhor.🔊

  Looking back, I regret changing the date without checking with you.

• formal

  Agora, quem me dera ter falado com o senhor antes!🔊

  Now I wish I had spoken to you first.

Saying someone should or shouldn’t have acted

Você deveria ter particípio / O senhor deveria ter particípio; Você não deveria ter particípio / O senhor não deveria ter particípio.

• formal

  O senhor deveria ter me avisado antes de mudar a data.🔊

  You should have told me before you changed the date.

• informal

  Você não devia ter mudado a data sem me perguntar.🔊

  You shouldn't have changed the date without asking me.

An informal conversation about a missed job

• Ainformal

  Quem me dera ter me candidatado àquela vaga!🔊

  I wish I'd applied for that job.

• Binformal

  O que você estaria fazendo agora se tivesse conseguido a vaga?🔊

  What would you be doing now if you'd got it?

• Ainformal

  Eu provavelmente estaria trabalhando no exterior. Me arrependo de ter deixado aquela oportunidade passar.🔊

  I'd probably be working abroad. I regret letting that chance go.

• Binformal

  Você podia ter pedido mais tempo pra decidir.🔊

  You could have asked for more time to decide.

A formal conversation about a changed date

• Aformal

  Pensando bem, eu me arrependo de ter mudado a data sem confirmar com o senhor.🔊

  Looking back, I regret changing the date without checking with you.

• Bformal

  Se o senhor tivesse me perguntado, eu teria explicado o problema.🔊

  If you had asked me, I would have explained the problem.

• Aformal

  Agora, quem me dera ter falado com o senhor antes!🔊

  Now I wish I had spoken to you first.

• Bformal

  Talvez tivéssemos evitado toda essa confusão.🔊

  We might have avoided all this confusion.