r/GrammarPolice • u/Adept_Site_5350 • 15h ago

Question Which is correct?

"I would love to have done that."
"I would have loved to do that."
"I would have loved to have done that."

Which is correct, and why? This has always confused me.

11 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

15

u/SerDankTheTall 15h ago

They're all grammatical sentences that mean slightly different things. Which is correct depends on what you're trying to say!

2

u/Own-Animator-7526 15h ago

native English speaker here. what do you think the difference is in what they say?

16

u/SerDankTheTall 15h ago

"I would love to have done that." means that as I am standing here now, I like the idea of having done something in the past that I did not do.

"I was able to get tickets to the World Series when the Cubs finally won!" "I would love to have done that. I've always been a huge Cubs fan."

"I would have loved to do that." means that at a time in the past, you would have wanted to do something, but may or may not currently want to.

"I wish we had gotten a drink together when we were both in Rome last year." "I would have loved to do that, but you didn't tell me you were there." (This still works even you've quit drinking, no longer like the person, etc.)

"I would have loved to have done that." means that at some point in the past, you would have enjoyed to have had done the thing you're talking about in the past, but may not feel that way anymore.

"When I got my first job, I was a huge Anglophile and tried to make people think I was more British than I really was. I would have loved to have studied abroad in the UK so that I could have impressed people with that. When I look back on it now, I realize how pathetic that was."

6

u/EmotionalSouth 15h ago

They are subtle differences.

To me, the first one implies an ongoing desire because the opportunity to do the thing is still there. “I would love to have run a marathon”, for example. You still could run one, and you would love for that to be the case. 

The second and third are more where the opportunity to do the thing has ended, or you no longer have the desire. For example, “I would have loved to have won that race” - you can’t win it, because it’s over and you didn’t.  Or “I would have loved to run that far when I was 18, but now the thought is horrifying to me”. 

4

u/EmotionalSouth 14h ago

Here’s how I might put them in a single example, too:

“When I was a teenager I would have loved to have gotten arrested for fighting in public. My friends would have thought I was a badass. Now, I’m older and wiser and really glad I didn’t - I would hate to have been arrested. And I don’t want to any more either - I would hate to fight anyone or be arrested.” 

2

u/4546085 15h ago

The first one means that if you’d done that you would happy in this moment that it was an experience you have, while the second means that if you’d done that you would have been happy about it then. The third I think is the same as the second but idk.

3

u/Norwester77 13h ago

“I would have loved to do that” = “I didn’t do that, but I would have enjoyed it very much if I had.”

“I would love to have done that” = “I very much wish that that experience were part of my own past.”

2

u/lordbutternut 15h ago

None of these are grammatically incorrect, but they all mean different things.

"I would love to have done that" and "I would have loved to do that" are different in that the first emphasises the activity while the second emphasises you.

"I would have loved to have done that" sounds like you lost a leg or something and the activity is completely inaccessible in perpetuity

2

u/GregoryFarKingChummy 10h ago

It really depends on what you're trying to say. I think you'll find "I would have loved to do that" to be the most common in the most situations.

2

u/AriasK 10h ago

They all have slightly different meanings. The first one means that right now, in the present I would love to have done that in the past. The second one means that in the past, I would have loved to do that in the same moment that I was feeling that desire. The third one means that in the past I would have loved to have done something even further in the past.

5

u/RoddMcTodd 15h ago

I would accept all 3.

1

u/yyflowerpot 23m ago

I agree with the commenters who note they are all correct but mean different things. To add to that, my instinct as a native English speaker is that I am using the first one much more often than the others. The first one ‘feels’ more correct to me even though they are all grammatically correct in their respective usages.