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Is it acceptable / possible to mix past perfect, present progressive, etc. in conditionals?

In particular: The 2nd conditional (apologies to those who reject this common but by no means universal classification) is of the form

[If] + [NP₁] + [past simple] {+ NP₂} + [NP₁ or pro-form] + [would] + [infinitive] ...

Is it possible to use past perfect after the would?

Like:

  • If I were you I would have done that

instead of the standard

  • If I were you I would do that.
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  • Stack Exchange was designed around having a single question per thread. This means it doesn't support multiple questions very well - for example, choosing an accepted answer is difficult if the best answer for one question is actually a poor answer for the second question. Please split your questions into separate threads.
    – KillingTime
    Commented Sep 25, 2023 at 20:50

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There will be some contexts where people could use either of...

#1 If I were you I would have done that
...and...
#2 If I were you I would do that
interchangeably.

...but #1 will often be used simply because it's less of a mouthful than...

3: If I had been you I would have done that

...referring to a hypothetical past, as opposed to #2 which refers to a "timeless" / present / future hypothetical scenario. In #1 (and #3), you've definitely already done something that I wouldn't have done (I'm criticizing what you did), but in #2 you probably haven't done anything yet (I'm advising you what to do).

Only extreme pedants would complain about the "mixed tenses" in OP's example #1. Google Books seems to have 2-3 times as many instances of the simpler (first) version of...

If I were you I would have done it
rather than the "strictly correct" alternative...
If I had been you I would have done it

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  • "had been you" sounds weird because this type of "being" is eternal. If someone had been you, they still are you. We're not in a "Freaky Friday" world where people swap places.
    – Barmar
    Commented Sep 26, 2023 at 20:13
  • Suppose the contextually relevant aspect of you in my example was that the person I'm speaking to was the lead actor in some stage show, but refused to sign autographs for fans after the performance. If I had been the lead actor [which you were] I would have done [the signings]. Nothing weird, linguistically.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 26, 2023 at 20:38
  • That's very different, since roles can be temporary. Although present tense still sometimes works. I'm not saying that "If I had been you" is wrong, it just feels less necessary to have temporal agreement.
    – Barmar
    Commented Sep 26, 2023 at 20:42
  • Well, where I come from, you'll much more likely hear If I was you... But I think you're missing the point. Apart from being a bit "posh", the subjunctive in this context loses "temporal consistency", because it's timeless. But for my money, there's next to no difference between If I'd['ve] been you... and If I'd've been in your shoes...
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 26, 2023 at 20:53

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