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What's the difference between 'could' and 'could have'?

English Language & Usage Asked by Mayur Choubey on April 15, 2021

I was researching the uses of ‘could’ on this website, and I found these 4 sentences in the To talk about possibility or uncertainty section:

You could win, if you worked hard. (Possibility)

She could pass if she studied hard. (Possibility)

I could have helped him if he had asked me.

If I had the money I could buy a car.

Now, I have to ask that why they have written 3 sentences (1st, 2nd and 4th) using ‘could’ and one sentence (3rd) using ‘could have’, whereas all sentences have the same meaning (or, so, I think). What’s the difference between ‘could’ and ‘could have’? And, are there any similarities between ‘could’ and ‘could have’?

There’s one thing more. I’ve noticed, in 1st and 2nd sentence, they’ve used ‘could’ only (not ‘could have’) in the first part of the sentence and in the second part of the sentence, there’s no ‘had’. So, is it, like, this that when the other part of the sentence doesn’t have ‘had’, don’t use ‘could have’, just use ‘could’ and when the other part of the sentence has ‘had’, use ‘could have’ just as they’ve done in 3rd sentence.

Also, if that’s the case, then, notice, in the 4th sentence, ‘had’ HAS come, in the other part, but there’s only ‘could’ (not ‘could have’). I’m so much confused with these modals! Help me!

2 Answers

If "could" implies possibility, then "could have" would imply the possibility of something that would have already happened.

Example:

  1. I could have helped him if he had asked me.

vs

  1. I could help him if he had asked me.

For (1), if he had asked the writer, then the writer would probably had already helped him.

For (2), if he had asked the writer, then it is possible for the writer to help him, but the help would not have happened yet. This usage would be weird because the possibility (capability) to help is dependent on whether he had asked or not.

Answered by Jai on April 15, 2021

I would help you right now if you had asked me in advance but I have to go. I could help you right now (I'm available) if you had asked me in advance but you didn't make an appointment. How about this?

Answered by Erick Ceballos on April 15, 2021

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