If I Would Have… vs. If I Had…

When talking about something that didn’t happen in the past, many English speakers use the conditional perfect (if I would have done) when they should be using the past perfect (if I had done).
For example, you find out that your brother saw a movie yesterday. You would have liked to see it too, but you hadn’t known he was going. To express this, you can use an if – then clause. The correct way to say this is with the past perfect in the “if” clause, and the conditional perfect in the “then” clause:
Correct: If I had known that you were going to the movies, [then] I would have gone too.
The conditional perfect can only go in the “then” clause — it is grammatically incorrect to use the conditional perfect in the “if” clause:
Incorrect: If I would have known that you were going to the movies, I would have gone too.
More examples:
Correct: If I had gotten paid, we could have traveled together.
Incorrect: If I would have gotten paid, we could have traveled together.
Correct: If you had asked me, I could have helped you.
Incorrect: If you would have asked me, I could have helped you.
The same mistake occurs with the verb “wish.” You can’t use the conditional perfect when wishing something had happened; you again need the past perfect.
Correct: I wish I had known.
Incorrect: I wish I would have known.
Correct: I wish you had told me.
Incorrect: I wish you would have told me.
Correct: We wish they had been honest.
Incorrect: We wish they would have been honest.
Pop Quiz
Choose A or B.
1.A. If I would have known you were sick, I could have brought you some meals.
1.B. If I had known you were sick, I could have brought you some meals.
2.A. If you had explained the objective, I could have completed the assignment sooner.
2.B. If you would have explained the objective, I could have completed the assignment sooner.
3.A. I wish it would have gone differently.
3.B. I wish it had gone differently.
4.A. We wish the team had scored more goals.
4.B. We wish the team would have scored more goals.
Answers
1.B.
2.A.
3.B.
4.A