nintzatekeen / nukeen
Would Have
Add -en to a "would" form to look back: etorriko nintzateke (I would come) becomes etorriko nintzatekeen (I would have come).
How It Works
This pattern talks about a past that did not happen and its imagined result.
The "if" part. Use the participle and a If I Were, If I Had form. Adding izan after the participle makes the past clear: jakin izan banu (if I had known), etorri izan balitz (if he had come). The Academy accepts it with or without izan. The "if" verb never takes -ko.
The result. Use the future participle in -ko/-go with a past conditional form:
- Verbs with nor: nintzatekeen, zinatekeen, zatekeen, ginatekeen, zinateketen, ziratekeen.
- Verbs with nork: nukeen, zenukeen, zukeen, genukeen, zenuketen, zuketen. Several things as object: nituzkeen, zituzkeen.
- With a receiver: niokeen, nizukeen, zenidakeen. See Would Give, Would Tell.
Most forms just add -en to the present "would" form: nuke becomes nukeen. For hura and haiek, the first l also becomes z: litzateke becomes zatekeen, and luke becomes zukeen.
So: Jakin izan banu, esango nizukeen (If I had known, I would have told you).
The everyday version. Speakers often put the ordinary past in the result: Jakin izan banu, esango nizun. The Academy (rule 42) accepts both: etorriko nintzatekeen and etorriko nintzen, esango niokeen and esango nion.
Should have. With behar, the same forms mean "should have": Lehenago etorri beharko zenukeen (You should have come earlier). See Should.
Examples (6)
- Jakin izan banu, esango nizukeen.
If I had known, I would have told you.
nizukeen: I would have (told) you.
- Denbora izan banu, lehenago etorriko nintzatekeen.
If I had had time, I would have come earlier.
- Autobusa hartu izan bagenu, garaiz iritsiko ginatekeen.
If we had taken the bus, we would have arrived on time.
iritsi takes nor, so the form is ginatekeen.
- Zu gabe, ez nukeen lortuko.
Without you, I would not have managed it.
- Lehenago etorri beharko zenukeen.
You should have come earlier.
behar uses nork forms, even with etorri.
- Jakin izan banu, esango nizun.
If I had known, I would have told you.
The everyday version with the ordinary past. The Academy accepts it.
Common Mistakes
Using a nork form with a verb that takes nor.
Autobusa hartu izan bagenu, garaiz iritsiko genukeen.Autobusa hartu izan bagenu, garaiz iritsiko ginatekeen.iritsi takes nor (iritsi gara), so the result needs ginatekeen, not genukeen.
Putting -ko on the verb in the "if" part.
Jakingo banu, esango nizukeen.Jakin izan banu, esango nizukeen.Only the result takes -ko. The "if" part uses the participle, often with izan: jakin izan banu.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Would have follows the conditional and the simple past.
Related Patterns
- banintz / banuIf I Were, If I Had
The unreal "if" forms used in the first half: jakin izan banu.
Level 3 - nintekeen / nezakeenCould Have, Was Able
Could have, where this entry is would have.
Level 4 - -tu beharko + ConditionalShould
beharko zenukeen means "you should have".
Level 3 - niokeWould Give, Would Tell
Gives the receiver forms: esango niokeen, esango nizukeen.
Level 4 - etorriko zenWould: The Future in the Past
The same -ko + past pattern that speech uses in the everyday version: esango nizun.
Level 4
Words in This Pattern
Practice nintzatekeen / nukeen in Bubblegum
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