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Spinyman Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Could not or couldn't have?

Hello!

Please, explain to me the reason of using couldn't have done in this sentence:

We couldn’t have done it without you.

What would change if we said as well but replaced couldn't have done by could not do?

Thank you all so very much in advance.
  

Top answer

We couldn't have done it without you. We have done it, but it wouldn't have been possible without you. We couldn't do it without you.

— Cool Breeze

  • We couldn't have done it without you.
  • We have done it, but it wouldn't have been possible without you.
  • We couldn't do it without you.
  • We have not yet done it and we wouldn't be able to it without you.
  • CB
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3 Answers
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We couldn't have done it without you.

We have done it, but it wouldn't have been possible without you.

We couldn't do it without you.

We have not yet done it and we wouldn't be able to it without you.

CB
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We could not do it without you

Can also mean we did it but without your help it was not possible. The difference could be in time.

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