<p>You are asking about counterfactuals in Chinese. This is way too big a topic to discuss in detail here. Try looking at the entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Bloom" rel="nofollow">Alfred Bloom</a> in Wikipedia. This will give you some links, but is otherwise not very helpful. The SparkNotes version of the story: Bloom wrote a book in 1981 which claimed that Chinese cannot express counterfactuals and therefore Chinese people do not think counterfactually. People have been jumping up and down on him ever since. </p>

<p>For what it's worth, my own feeling is that Chinese has plenty of ways of expressing counterfactuals, but there are significant linguistic differences between Chinese and English as well. That these influence people's thinking seems reasonable. That they explain why China was trampled underfoot by the great powers in the 19th century seems to overstate the case.</p>

<p>About your example: you have a conditional about something that didn't happen, indicated by if-negative past perfect then a pseudo-subjunctive. English uses a ton of fancy tense stuff here that Chinese simply doesn't have.  One way to translate, as in the solutions suggested by both Gerxy and Henry Ho, is just use a regular conditional structure with a time adverbial to keep things straight (早 or 已); another possibility that sometimes gets used is modals such as 會 as in Henry's second solution.  </p>

<p>It is not unusual to run into counterfactuals that are extremely difficult to translate, and people often simply resort to explaining, rather than translating.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-16T14:44:35.920Z
BTW, any better way to put the two "她" together?  It looks weird.
Henry HO
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-17T02:55:57.450Z
Yes, Chinese would usually put their names instead of using pronouns.  But if you are translating where there is no context, there's not much you can do to fix this.
wpt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-16T14:31:30.403Z
2015-10-16T14:31:30.403Z
wpt
<p>Chinese has no special grammar for subjunctive, but just add words and/or expressions like 如果 要不是 若（非），幸亏……否则…… for the situation</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-29T05:15:27.807Z
2015-10-29T05:15:27.807Z
gcd0318
<p><em>Yàoshi méi bāng tā, liǎnggerén zǎojiù sǐle</em> 要是沒幫她，兩個人早就死了 [if not help her; both persons long-since already become dead].</p>

<p>I'd omit the initial "she" and avoid rendering "now" literally, since sentence-<em>le</em> suggests that adequately.</p>

<p>Counterfactuals are definitely used in Chinese, in spite of the opinions of some theoreticians. But it's ordinarily sufficient to say "if" plus a negated verb.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-29T23:00:20.527Z
2015-10-29T23:00:20.527Z
brannerchinese
<p>要是她没帮她，她们两个现在早都死了。 please notice the now in your phrase,.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-16T04:14:02.407Z
Perhaps: 若非她幫了她, 兩人已共赴黃泉.
Henry HO
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-16T08:15:18.687Z
Or .... 若非她幫了她, 兩人都會命送黃泉.
Henry HO
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-16T13:05:29.343Z
what does 早 mean in this sentence ?
Abdul Al Hazred
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-16T14:41:20.367Z
okay... it's "命喪黃泉"  :P
Henry HO
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-16T01:00:42.830Z
2015-10-16T01:00:42.830Z
Gerxy
<p>How do you express in Chinese a conditional set in the past that did not actually happened? Like for instance:</p>

<p><em>if she had not helped her, they both would be dead now</em></p>

<translation><grammar>
How do you translate "if she had not helped her, they both would be dead now" ?
# How do you translate "if she had not helped her, they both would be dead now" ?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-16)

How do you express in Chinese a conditional set in the past that did not actually happened? Like for instance:

*if she had not helped her, they both would be dead now*

**Tags:** translation, grammar


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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2015-10-16. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

要是她没帮她，她们两个现在早都死了。 please notice the now in your phrase,.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Perhaps: 若非她幫了她, 兩人已共赴黃泉.  
> **username_2**: Or .... 若非她幫了她, 兩人都會命送黃泉.  
> **username_0**: what does 早 mean in this sentence ?  
> **username_2**: okay... it's "命喪黃泉"  :P  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2015-10-16. Score: 3

You are asking about counterfactuals in Chinese. This is way too big a topic to discuss in detail here. Try looking at the entry for [Alfred Bloom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Bloom) in Wikipedia. This will give you some links, but is otherwise not very helpful. The SparkNotes version of the story: Bloom wrote a book in 1981 which claimed that Chinese cannot express counterfactuals and therefore Chinese people do not think counterfactually. People have been jumping up and down on him ever since.

For what it's worth, my own feeling is that Chinese has plenty of ways of expressing counterfactuals, but there are significant linguistic differences between Chinese and English as well. That these influence people's thinking seems reasonable. That they explain why China was trampled underfoot by the great powers in the 19th century seems to overstate the case.

About your example: you have a conditional about something that didn't happen, indicated by if-negative past perfect then a pseudo-subjunctive. English uses a ton of fancy tense stuff here that Chinese simply doesn't have. One way to translate, as in the solutions suggested by both username_5 and username_2 Ho, is just use a regular conditional structure with a time adverbial to keep things straight (早 or 已); another possibility that sometimes gets used is modals such as 會 as in username_2's second solution.

It is not unusual to run into counterfactuals that are extremely difficult to translate, and people often simply resort to explaining, rather than translating.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: BTW, any better way to put the two "她" together?  It looks weird.  
> **username_1**: Yes, Chinese would usually put their names instead of using pronouns.  But if you are translating where there is no context, there's not much you can do to fix this.  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2015-10-29. Score: 0

Chinese has no special grammar for subjunctive, but just add words and/or expressions like 如果 要不是 若（非），幸亏……否则…… for the situation


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### Answer by username_4 on 2015-10-29. Score: 0

*Yàoshi méi bāng tā, liǎnggerén zǎojiù sǐle* 要是沒幫她，兩個人早就死了 [if not help her; both persons long-since already become dead].

I'd omit the initial "she" and avoid rendering "now" literally, since sentence-*le* suggests that adequately.

Counterfactuals are definitely used in Chinese, in spite of the opinions of some theoreticians. But it's ordinarily sufficient to say "if" plus a negated verb.


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