If I had listened to you

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New2grammar

#525820 Wed, 11 Jun 08 12:45 PM

B: Oh no. I didn't buy the lottery.

A: I told you so

B: If I had listened to you, I would be rich now./If I listened to you, I would be rich now.

I feel both are natural to say in this context. What do you think?

Thanks.

New2grammar

Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006

Veteran Member (7,670)

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optilang

#525837 Wed, 11 Jun 08 02:17 PM

B: Oh no. I didn't buy the lottery.

A: I told you so

B: If I had listened to you, I would be rich now./If I listened to you, I would be rich now.

There are some problems:

B: Oh no. I didn't buy the lottery. You cannot buy the lottery, you can buy a lottery ticket.

B: If I had listened to you, I would be rich now. If I had listened to you before the lottery draw, and if I had bought a ticket, I would be rich now (supposing that the numbers had been selected before the draw).

If I listened to you, I would be rich now. For me, this is more general - If I listened to you (over a period of time) I would be rich now.

optilang

Joined on Tue, May 13 2008

Poland

Senior Member (2,107)

OptiNative British English Speaker Wherever I may roam, I'm still a Londoner.

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New2grammar

#525840 Wed, 11 Jun 08 02:24 PM

Rephrasing

B: Oh no. I didn't buy a lottery ticket (?? This means any ticket of any lottery. How to be specific to the lottery his friend advised)

Why is there a condition? "supposing that the numbers had been selected before the draw"

The winning number was drawn, say, yesterday, and matched the number his friend advised him to buy

New2grammar

Numbers

Marius Hancu

#525844 Wed, 11 Jun 08 02:44 PM

B: If I had listened to you, I would be rich now.

Only this is correct in the context, as you must establish precedence with the past-perfect-like form of the subjunctive mood If I had listened, to show it was before the lottery

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Subjunctives

Huevos

#525850 Wed, 11 Jun 08 02:57 PM

New2grammar
Oh no. I didn't buy a lottery ticket (?? This means any ticket of any lottery. How to be specific to the lottery his friend advised)

You could say "Oh no. I didn't buy that lottery ticket".

New2grammar
Why is there a condition? "supposing that the numbers had been selected before the draw"

The winning number was drawn, say, yesterday, and matched the number his friend advised him to buy

The condition is that the if clause may be fulfilled. In your sentences it is already impossible to fulfil the if clause making the sentences purely hypothesis. This is known as a type III conditional and is formed thus: if + past perfect + would + have + past participle. A conditional formed with if + simple past is known as a type II conditional and is used where it is still possible to fulfil the if clause however unlikely that may be.

Huevos

Joined on Tue, Mar 25 2008

Spain

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Clauses, Conditionals, Grammar, Numbers, Past perfect, Simple past

optilang

#525854 Wed, 11 Jun 08 03:06 PM

B: Oh no. I didn't buy a lottery ticket (?? This means any ticket of any lottery. How to be specific to the lottery his friend advised) Oh no. I didn't buy the lottery ticket.

Why is there a condition? "supposing that the numbers had been selected before the draw" - If there was no condition, it would not make sense to say that I would be rich now. There must have been advice given with the winning numbers, and this would have had to have been given before the draw.

The winning number was drawn, say, yesterday, and matched the number his friend advised him to buy - yes exactly.