Is it possible to say 'could’ve/shoudl’ve/would’ve in Polish? And what about even more complex tenses like ‘could’ve been/should’ve been/would’ve been’ etc?
I have actually seen somewhere that ‘could have’ is mógłbym, but I wanted to make sure this is correct or not.
For example if I want to say:
I could’ve spoken Polish today - mógłbym mówię po polsku dzisiaj (not sure if this is correct)
I should’ve spoken Polish
I would’ve spoken Polish
I could’ve been speaking Polish
I should’ve been speaking Polish
I would’ve been speaking Polish
So how do we express these tenses in Polish?
Hey,
I included two versions in the translations below: the first one would be used if a man was speaking and the second one would be used if a woman was speaking.
I could’ve spoken Polish today: Mogłem/Mogłam mówić dziś po polsku.
‘Mógłbym/Mogłabym’, which you used, would be used if you were speaking in the present tense.
I should’ve spoken Polish:
Powinienem był/Powinnam była mówić po polsku. - If you want to express a regret.
Miałem/Miałam mówić dziś po polsku. - This would be used if you wanted to express past obligation.
I would’ve spoken Polish: Mówiłbym/Mówiłabym po polsku.
There is no distinction between ‘could have’ and ‘could have been’ etc. in Polish. You would use the same forms as above.
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