''Quizás qué le hubiese dicho''

Question

"Mejor que no le hubiese respondido porque quizás qué le hubiese dicho." I understand it as: "It's better that I didn't respond because what would I have said anyway". Is that the correct translation? Thank you.

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Answer 1

In Spanish is widely used the fact that in both clauses, the subjunctive is used.

Quizás qué le hubiese/hubiera dicho is part of the third conditional construction, as known in English.

The correct way of writing is Quizás qué le habría dicho. That's the clause which triggers the subjunctive mood in Spanish.

Quizás qué le habría dicho si le hubiese/hubiera preguntado.

Often, this structure in Spanish is written by using the subjunctive mood at the beginning:

Quizás qué le hubiera/hubiese dicho si le hubiese/hubiera preguntado.

Although the correct way is by introducing habría + past participle.

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You'll see a lot of these constructions in films, using the subjunctive in both clauses.

Thank you ! Could you please also tell me how you would translate that sentence? - capybara, Jul 30, 2016

Which one? Mine or yours? - Oshnaj, Jul 30, 2016

I meant yours. - capybara, Jul 30, 2016

Good one Oshnaj. - ray76, Jul 31, 2016

"Perhaps what I would have told her/him if I had asked" - Oshnaj, Jul 31, 2016

Habria+past participle if you are sure about what would you have said him. No se que le bubiese dicho (sudjuntive) .le habría dicho que se meta en sus asuntos habría +past participle - 000a35ff, Jul 31, 2016

Answer 2

It's better that I didn't respond to him/her because maybe I would have told him/her --(or said to him/her)
Your translationof those unusual subjunctive endings are right. You just missed the "le." And I didn't see "anyway" in there.

I'll have to admit that the Spanish is a little strange. "que le hubiese dicho" just seems to be hanging there. It should have a direct object following.

Are you sure you copied everything correctly?

Thank you for the answer! The same thing is confusing me too, but that is the end of the sentence. The ''qué'' is accented, so I understood it as an object (what would I have said). - capybara, Jul 29, 2016

I agree - 000a35ff, Jul 31, 2016

Answer 3

I think that Quizas followed by que is wrong. It's a strange way. Mejor que no le hubiese respondido porque quizás qué le hubiese dicho. It sound weird. I think that this sentence in Spanish woul be :

Mejor que no le hubiese/ra respondido porque no sé qué le hubiese/ra dicho/contestado.

Or

Mejor que no le hubiese respondido porque quizás le hubiese respondido/contestado mal/de malas maneras/con alguna grosería.

It's better that I didn't respond because what would I have said anyway. I would translate your translation into Spanish as: Es mejor que no le respondiera porque ¿ de cualquier manera/de todas formas , que le hubiera/se dicho?

Answer 4

Just going on a hunch here (I'm not much more than a beginning Spanish learner), but could your sentence perhaps be loosely translated as "Better that I haven't responded (to you/him/her) because of what I might have said (to you/him/her)"? I realize that it's a bit of a stretch, but sometimes it needs to be.

I think you're right. Thank you very much! - capybara, Jul 30, 2016