Si nous avions eu un chien.......

Gregory W.C1Kwiziq community member

Si nous avions eu un chien.......

If we had a dog, is same as.. if we were to have a dog, which would seem to be imperfect, not passé composé. You have trained us to use imperfect in this situation:  Si nous avions un chien.......

Grégoire

Asked 3 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Gregory,

I think you are mixing up your tenses.

 avions eu is the plus-que-parfait  and not the passé composé

Take a look at the following examples:

If we had a dog we would be happy = Si nous avions un chien nous serions heureux

imparfait ----> conditionnel présent 

If we had had a dog we would have been happy = Si nous avions eu un chien nous aurions été heureux

Plus que parfait ( pluperfect) ------> conditionnel passé

To convey if we were to do something you would have to use the verb devoir à l'imparfait -

Si nous devions avoir un chien, nous aurions un Labrador = If we were to have dog we would have a Labrador

Hope this helps!

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Gregory,

"Si nous avions eu un chien....."    I understand this as   "If we had had a dog .. "

So this would be a completed state of affairs  --  Plus-que-parfait (perfect in the past)

Hope this helps.

Jim

Si nous avions eu un chien.......

If we had a dog, is same as.. if we were to have a dog, which would seem to be imperfect, not passé composé. You have trained us to use imperfect in this situation:  Si nous avions un chien.......

Grégoire

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