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"If I would’ve heard that before I would’ve named one of the cars Jalopnik" (from http://goo.gl/KvE2tB)

"Would have + P2" in main and dependent clauses seems odd to me. Is this correct?

I expected: "If I had heard that before I would’ve named one of the cars Jalopnik".

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  • Related: See PEU's "262.1 would in both clauses" here: ell.stackexchange.com/a/14668/3281.
    – Damkerng T.
    May 15, 2015 at 8:04
  • @DamkerngT. Re your [v good] ref: 'common in American spoken English' - but, wow, that looks weird to a Brit. Had've at a push, but not would've. Preferably just "If I'd heard…" to my ear.
    – gone fishin' again.
    May 15, 2015 at 10:17

1 Answer 1

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When talking about something hypothetical in the past, many English speakers use the conditional perfect (if I would have done) when they should be using the past perfect (if I had done).

The correct formulation, as you expected is:

If I had heard that before I would’ve named one of the cars Jalopnik.

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