Would Have (oleksin teinud)

Level 3

Oleksin tulnud means I would have come. Only olema changes for the person. The -nud form stays the same.

How It Works

Build the past conditional in two parts:

  • the conditional of olema, which shows the person: ma oleksin, sa oleksid, ta oleks, me oleksime, te oleksite, nad oleksid
  • the -nud form of the main verb, which never changes: tulnud, teinud, aidanud

So me oleksime tulnud means we would have come.

It describes a past that did not happen. It is typical in unreal past conditions, where both clauses use it: Kui ma oleksin teadnud, oleksin tulnud. (If I had known, I would have come.) English says had known here, but Estonian does not use the pluperfect olin teadnud.

Negative: ei oleks or the short poleks, the same for every person: Ma poleks seda iialgi uskunud.

In speech, olema often drops its ending too: ma oleks tulnud. In literary writing you may also meet the one-word form tulnuksin.

Examples (5)

  1. Oleksin tulnud, kui oleksin teadnud.

    I would have come if I had known.

    Both clauses use oleksin plus -nud.

  2. Ta oleks aidanud, aga keegi ei küsinud.

    He would have helped, but nobody asked.

    Ta oleks has no ending in the third person singular.

  3. Kui sa oleksid mulle helistanud, oleksin sulle järele tulnud.

    If you had called me, I would have come to pick you up.

  4. Ilma sinuta oleksime ära eksinud.

    Without you we would have got lost.

    Me takes oleksime. The -nud form stays eksinud.

  5. Ma poleks seda iialgi uskunud.

    I would never have believed it.

    Poleks is the negative, the same as ei oleks.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the pluperfect for the English "had known".

    Kui ma olin teadnud, oleksin tulnud.
    Kui ma oleksin teadnud, oleksin tulnud.

    For an unreal past condition, the kui clause also uses the past conditional. Olin teadnud only reports a real earlier past.

  • Adding a personal ending after ei.

    Ma ei oleksin seda teinud.
    Ma ei oleks seda teinud.

    After ei the form is always oleks, or use poleks.

  • Putting the main verb in the conditional as well.

    Ma oleksin tuleksin.
    Ma oleksin tulnud.

    Only olema is in the conditional. The main verb is the -nud form.

How It Connects

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Would Have (oleksin teinud)Level 3

Learn This First

The past conditional is oleks plus -nud.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

olema-nudpoleks