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Speaker A: He wasn't in love with me.

Speaker B: I hope so. Otherwise, you/you would've/must've crushed him after you dumped him.

What's the correct alternative and why?

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The loving (or not) and the dumping are events in the past, so the crushing would also have occurred in the past. Joining the two parts of the dialogue, you can clearly see that it's a hypothetical conditional in the past.

If he had been in love with you, you would have crushed him when you dumped him.

would have is therefore required.

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  • What if Speaker A was speaking in the present tense?
    – alex
    Commented Apr 27, 2018 at 8:05
  • Even then, the "dumped" is in the past.
    – Canadian Yankee
    Commented Apr 27, 2018 at 12:29
  • Speaker A: He isn't in love with me. Speaker B: I hope so. Otherwise it will crush him when you dump him. OR - I hope so. Otherwise it would've crushed him after you dumped him. Since we don't know from the context whether the dumping was in the past or will be in the future, it could go either way.
    – user9570789
    Commented Apr 27, 2018 at 15:58

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