Coulda Shoulda Woulda - What do they mean? How to use them in English!

(upbeat music)

- I thought you were great,

but you shoulda sung your own stuff.

You write your own songs or anything?

- I don't sing my own songs.

- Why?

- Well, like tonight, I just wouldn't have felt comfortable.

- Why wouldn't you feel comfortable?

- Well, because

like almost every person I've met has told me

that my nose is too big and I won't make it.

- [Man] Your nose is too big?

- Yeah.

- I woulda punched them!

Your nose is beautiful!

- Oh come on!

- No, you shoulda been a nose model!

- You're so full of shit!

- I'm not full of shit, I'm telling you the truth.

- You're full of shit.

- Can I touch your nose?

- Oh my gosh!

- Let me touch your nose for a second.

(sultry music)

You know, you very lucky.

- Oh really?

Yeah. Not really.

My nose has not made me very lucky.

I coulda had a hit song if it wasn't for this nose.

Everyone says, "Oh, you sound great,

but you shoulda started a podcast, not a YouTube channel."

- Can I touch your nose again?

- No, it's kinda creepy.

- Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

How do we use them?

What do they mean?

(upbeat music)

This lesson is also available (upbeat music)

in my e-book.

You can get extra practice and make sure

that you really understand all of these things.

The link for this is in the description.

Ah, how do I start this lesson?

I know, with an example.

"Yesterday, I had a day off.

No work, no school, no class, no nothing.

What did I do?

I watched Netflix all day.

I was very lazy."

So this really happened, but, in place of watching Netflix,

what was possible to do, but I didn't do it?

Going to the gym, that was possible but I didn't do it.

Cleaning my room, that was also possible

but I didn't do it because I was lazy.

These actions were possible, but didn't happen.

We can use, could have to explain this.

"I could have blah, blah, blah," means it was possible

and didn't happen.

"Could have", we need a verb three with this,

"could have gone to the gym."

"Yesterday, I could have cleaned my room."

"I could have gone to the gym."

Hmm, pronunciation is important here.

Remember, in English, if you can contract things, do it.

It sounds more natural.

So, could have, could've,

've, could've.

Could've.

The stress is here, could, could've

"I could've gone to the gym, but I didn't."

"I could've cleaned my room, but I'm rubbish."

We can make this shorter.

Coulda, say it with me, coulda, coulda.

Again, it's very lazy, coulda.

"I wasted a day yesterday.

I coulda gone to the gym."

Important points.

Don't write this in formal writing or in your exams, no,

but in casual speech or messaging, it's fine.

Everyone does it and it sounds natural,

so, have fun.

Let's practice a question.

The question form.

So I could ask you, what did you do yesterday?

What did you do earlier today?

Did you waste your time?

Could you have done something different or better?

Let me know in the comments.

Okay, that's could, now, should.

This is your friend, Maria.

Her boyfriend cheated on her.

It's very bad, but what does your friend do?

(sighs) She forgives him,

but you think,

"She is crazy!

No! you forgave him?

Why!"

It was better, it was a better idea

to break up with him, you know, in the past.

How do you say that?

If we say you should break up with him,

that's advice for now or the future,

but how can we say it was better to break up with him

but you didn't.

To make it past, we used the have,

and remember we change that verb

to past participle, verb three.

So break becomes broken.

"You should've broken up with him."

But what do you think?

Should she have broken up with him?

That's the question?

How can we use the negative of this?

She wants to say forgiving him was a bad idea.

In the past, remember.

"You shouldn't have forgiven him, stupid"

Simply, "You should have blah, blah, blah."

It was a good idea to do this.

"You shouldn't have blah, blah, blah."

It was a bad idea to do this.

And pronunciation, contractions.

Should have, should've.

Shouldn't have, shouldn't've, shouldn't've.

Shoulda, shouldn't've.

"You shouldn't've forgiven him."

But depends how fast you're speaking.

You could also pronounce it

like shouldn't've, shouldn't've.

"You shouldn't've forgiven him."

So, would've?

How do we use that?

"You forgave him?

(sighs) Me, in that situation,

nuh-uh, very different."

You want to describe the different past

if you were in that situation.

"Me? I punch him in the face."

And, "Me? Not forgive him."

How do we write this correctly?

We use would've, again

because it's a past imaginary situation.

Would've.

"I would've punched him" and, "I", negative.

"I would not have forgiven him."

That sounds very unnatural.

Use those contractions.

"I wouldn't have forgiven him."

We can do better.

"I wouldn't've forgiven him."

In spoken English, it's completely fine,

but written, be careful, your teacher won't like it,

your exam won't like it,

just keep that in mind.

"I wouldn't've forgiven him."

"I woulda punched him in the face."

Also, also, we could contract, I would've to I'd've.

Again, we don't use this spelling in exams or formal writing

but speech is fine.

"I'd've punched him in the face twice."

And I know your next question is,

can we contract all of that? I'dn't've?

No, we can't contract that.

I wouldn't've.

So a question for you, what would you have done

in this situation?

Practice your answer in the comments.

So that's could've, would've, and should've.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

But wait, you can use these to say

about something happening in the past,

like, "Hmm, I think this thing definitely happened"

or "I think maybe this thing happened.

I don't know, it's possible."

So the probability that something happened in the past.

Let me show you.

You come home and, (whistling) "Where's my cat?"

So you think of possibilities.

Hmm?

"Maybe he met up with his cat friends."

We can use, could have for this situation.

We put could have right here.

"Dude, where's your cat?"

"I don't know."

"He could've met up with his cat friends."

Remember before?

We said it was possible but didn't happen.

In this context, we're saying,

"I don't know if it happened, but maybe",

because it's possible.

Could means possible.

And remember the pronunciation.

He could've, "He could've met up with his cat friends.

I don't know."

What else maybe happened to the cat?

Answers in the comments.

So, can we use should've in the same way?

One way is to say, "Yeah, I think this thing happened.

I mean, it's very likely that this thing happened."

For example, if you have ever done laundry,

you know this situation, you know,

when you are doing laundry and you check how long is left.

"Oh, 30 minutes.

Cool. I'll go have a shower, make a coffee.

And then I'll come back in 30 minutes", right?

And then 31 minutes later you are like, "Hmm, yeah.

I think definitely the laundry has finished

because it told me '30 minutes.'

It's very likely that it's finished."

How can I say that?

Use should've.

"Hmm. 31 minutes.

Yeah. Should've finished."

Should've.

The same for the negative if you think,

"Yeah, I don't think this happened."

"25 minutes.

No, it shouldn't have finished yet."

But of course, we both know that washing machines are liars.

You come to check,

"Ah! 11 minutes?"

Seriously, washing machines are why I have trust issues.

So, this is the second other way we use should have.

When you want to say,

"Ah, I expected it to have finished by now."

"Ah, it", the washing machine, "should've finished by now."

Your expectation that didn't happen.

"Ah, it should've finished by now."

So be careful, depending on the context,

it might have a different meaning.

"Seriously, where is my cat?

He should've come home hours ago."

I expected him to come home hours ago.

So there is that little difference with should've,

just keep that in mind.

Okay, and finally, would've.

This is when you think something definitely happened, 100%.

"Yep. This happened."

You don't have evidence.

You didn't see it.

You don't know, but you think 100%,

"Yeah. I'm sure this happened", or "didn't happen."

(sighs) "I miss my cat."

"Do you think the cat got in a fight?"

"No! The cat wouldn't've got in a fight he's a pacifist."

I want to say I'm sure the cat definitely didn't get

in a fight.

So I say, "He wouldn't have got in a fight."

I think 100%, "No, didn't happen."

Okay, so let's practice all of this

in the comments and in my e-book available on Patreon,

the link is in the description.

Three questions for you.

Write them in your notes, in the e-book or in the comments.

First question.

If you were in Maria's situation, what would you have done?

Would you have forgiven your boyfriend or girlfriend?

Would you have punched them in the face?

Let me know.

Question number two.

Yesterday, I was very hungry

but I ate very rubbish food, like junk food, McDonald's,

all the bad food, but I'm trying to be healthy.

So, you tell me, what should I have eaten?

Give me your advice that I can't use.

And question three.

Imagine you were in London last weekend.

What would you have done

if you had been in London last weekend?

Again, write your answers in the comments,

in the e-book or just in your notes.

Practice what you've just learned

and I'll see you in the next class.

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Bye.