Is this correct: “I'd have to have had…”

Question

This sentence makes my head hurt a bit, and it doesn't seem right, but perhaps you guys could help me sort it out.

"If I would've gone to Canada, I'd have to have had some kind of winter gear."

Answer 1

The grammar is correct, but the form is bad. Here is a better way to say it:

If I had gone to Canada, I'd have needed some kind of winter gear.

Answer 2

If I would've gone to Canada, I'd have had to have some kind of winter gear.

"Would have gone" ↔ "would have had" — same tense.

Your version would mean: If I had gone to Canada (earlier), I would (now) need to have had winter gear (back then). Which doesn't make much sense.

Answer 3

This is the correct use:

If I had gone to Canada, I would have had to take some winter gear.

Answer 4

Correct would be:

If I had gone to Canada, I would have had to have some kind of winter gear.

This is the Third Conditional because it refers to unreal situations in the past. Its form is:

if ... past perfect clause, would ... present perfect main clause.

For example:

If I had gone to Canada, I would have had some kind of winter gear.

or simpler:

If I'd gone to Canada, I would've had some kind of winter gear.

So you can see this is a phrase with 2 sentences (they are separated by comma when the if sentence comes first like in our case).

As a general rule, don't put would and if in the same sentence. If I would have... sounds pretty bad and it's nice to have it replaced by If I had... or by If I were..., just keep the would out of it :)

There also is a shorter way of putting this Third Conditional without using if at all:

Had I gone to Canada, I would've had some kind of winter gear.

Answer 5

I think you are missing a "had" in there, as I expand this to:

"If I would have gone to Canada, I would have had to have had some kind of winter gear."

It still seems a bit confused, probably needs a "then" before the 2nd "I would". The 1st "I would" is a bit redundant.

If I had gone to Canada, I would have had to have had some winter gear.

To be honest, switching in a context-equivalent verb makes it a much better sentence.

If I had gone to Canada, I would have had to take some winter gear