Josie
If only I'd gotten here sooner. -----"I'd gotten" means "I would gotten" here? why is 'gotten' used here?
Nov 7, 2023 3:43 PM
Answers · 11
2
It is 'if only I HAD gotten here sooner'. This is the third conditional. It expresses the wish to change something that happened in the past. In reality, you did not get here sooner.
November 7, 2023
1
"Gotten" here means "arrived". The verb "get" has thousands of meanings, which makes it a confusing verb with unlimited uses. I think it would be possible to speak English knowing only three verbs: "have", "be", and "get", but I don't recommend doing that. So the sentence fragment really means "If only I had arrived here sooner ...". To complete the fragment and turn it into a real sentence, state what you would have done: "If only I had arrived here sooner I would have been able to spend more time with you."
November 7, 2023
1
For your information, there ARE rather similar examples where ‘I’d’ means ‘I would’. For example: I’d have gotten her sooner if I hadn’t run out of gas on the way. (I would have …)
November 7, 2023
1
It's in the Past Perfect tense. "I'd" is short for "I had" in this example. In American English, "gotten" is the past participle of "get."
November 7, 2023
To express something u wish u did it but bcz of a barriers you couldn't done it
November 8, 2023
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