how do you say "I could have been rich"

Question

How do you say "I could have been rich"?

Answer 1

To decide between using podia and podria, we need a little more context. If you mean to say that at some point in the past you had the ability to become rich you would say:

Yo Podía haber sido rico. (I was able to have been rich)

On the other hand if, as is more likely, you are saying that if you had done something differently you would have been (or become) rich. That is a conditional with an implied "if".

Podría haber sido rico. (I would have been rich)

A useful test in English is for conditional tense if whether you can substitute would for could in the sentence without changing the meaning. Would is more precise but most English speakers substitute "could" for would freely.

Answer 2

Kurt-Jaeger wrote:

Podría haber sido rico. (I would have been rich)

I would say: Podría haber sido rico. (I could have been rich) Habría sido rico. (I would have been rich)

Answer 3

I'll take a stab at it. Yo podía haber sido rico.

Yo podría haber sido rico

I thought podría was future could and podía was past could. I could (in the past) have been rich. - jeezzle, DIC 5, 2009

podré is future and podría is conditional. In English, could in the past and could in conditional are spelled the same. - 003487d6, DIC 5, 2009

So I said, when I was a kid I could have been rich if my dad hadn't died thereby leaving us penniless I would use podría haber? Seriously? - jeezzle, DIC 5, 2009

Yes...use conditional in the first clause and the imperfect subjunnctive in the "si" clause. - mountaingirl123, DIC 5, 2009

if the sentence has IF in it then yes you have to use the conditional. If you said I could have been rich but I wasn't, then i think podía would fit. - 003487d6, DIC 5, 2009

Interesting. I guess I've always thought of conditional being a future action, thanks for the input guys, - jeezzle, DIC 5, 2009

Answer 4

Podría haber sido rico

Thank you Carlos :~) - Jack-OBrien, DIC 5, 2009

Answer 5

I'll take a stab at it. Yo podía haber sido rico.

I think you need to use the conditional :) - sunshinzmommie, DIC 5, 2009