I'm Anna and this is the English Fluency Journey, where I give tips and advice for English learners.

And in this video, I'm gonna be answering a question from Tano.

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"Hi, Anna. This is a nice video and really helpful. Thank you.

Anna, could you make a video on differences between should have, could have, would have and how could we use them in the sentences?"

So let's start.

First of all, when we use could have, should have, would have, we're talking about the past, so we can't change the past, we can regret something.

We can think of possibilities or we can think of a different scenario that could have happened or we can talk about our lost opportunities.

And we formed them using could have, should have, would have, plus past participle, and pay attention please on pronunciation.

So we don't say could have, should have, would have. We contract them and say could've, should've, would've. People rarely say the full version, "I could have."

So should've; basically, we use it to talk about our regrets.

We did something in the past, but now we think that that was a bad choice that we should have done it differently.

I should have listened to you!

I didn't listen to you and something unpleasant happened.

And now I understand that I should have listened to you.

I should have at least tried to learn how to drive.

The result is now that I can't drive because of my decision in the past. I decided not to learn how to drive, but now I understand that I need it and I lost time by not having done it in the past.

You should have asked me before buying a new car.

You bought a new car and you spent a lot of money and you didn't ask your wife, for example.

And now she's disappointed because maybe she had different plans for your family budget.

So now she's telling you that you should have asked. She's thinking that you were obligated to do that.

You shouldn't have drunk so much yesterday.

You did drink too much and maybe now you're having a hangover or you did something stupid so you definitely shouldn't have drunk so much.

Now, we used could have to talk about possibilities in the past, but they didn't happen under some circumstances or to say that we were able to do something, but we chose not to do that, or that something wasn't possible under some circumstances or that something is possible now.

I know a bit complicated but it'll get clearer when we take a look at some examples.

It's 8 p.m. already. They could have arrived now.

We were expecting them perhaps earlier or later, but it's a possibility that they can arrive now.

In this case, it's an assumption, but it's possible to happen now.

You could have waited for me and we could have come to the party together, but you chose not to wait and we came separately.

I could have dated her if I wanted it.

I think that I had that option, that that was a possibility.

You couldn't have saved him.

Meaning it was impossible. There was nothing you could do at that moment.

Why hasn't he come yet?

He could've forgotten that we were meeting, or worse, something could have happened.

Here, we're making a guess of what probably happened.

Everything could have been differently if you chose to stay and fight for us.

But you didn't, you decided to do otherwise.

You had such a hard life. You could have become an addict.

You could have easily ended up on the streets, but you chose to fight and look at you now. You're a successful lawyer. I'm so proud of you.

You can hear and use might've instead of could've, it means the same thing.

Did you get in trouble, Johnny Galecki?

Because if I was 15 and I had a TV show, I think I might have partied a little bit.

And would've. Just a little bit more complex than the previous ones.

So we use "would've" to say that we wanted to do something that it was intended to be done, but we didn't do it because perhaps something didn't let us.

I would have come over, but I wasn't feeling so good.

I wanted to come, but my health didn't let me.

I would've helped you, but I didn't know that you needed help. You should've told me.

So you didn't tell me and I didn't help, although I wanted to.

I would have made dinner, but as it turned out, I didn't have any products and honestly, I didn't wanna go grocery shopping.

I think this one explains itself. A story of my life.

Why is "would've" a bit more complex because it's also a part of the third conditional.

We use it to talk about past unreal situations and we form it like this.

"If + past perfect, ... would have + past participle."

If I hadn't been overeating, I wouldn't have gained so much weight.

But in reality, I gained weight because I had been overeating.

You wouldn't have broken all the plates if you had listened to me and didn't carry all of them at once.

But you didn't listen and you did carry all of them at once and you broke them all.

And to make it even more understandable, let's take a look at one sentence using all of these three modal verbs.

He should've told her the truth. (It was the right thing to do, but he didn't.)

He could've told her the truth. (Of course, it means that he didn't, but if he did, the current situation might have been better.)

He would've told her the truth. (This means that he wanted to tell her the truth, but something came up and he wasn't able to do that.)

And the last thing. This construction doesn't change depending on the subject. We always say should have, could have, would have.

It doesn't matter if we say he, she, we, or they. We don't say could has.

Thank you for watching this video.

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