I've looked into this and it seems they are multiple ways with multiple
nuances of saying "if (A) would have happened, then (B) would have happened.
(third conditional ?)

My question is about:

**誰が持ってても失くしてたんだよ きっと**

To give context, it is a group of kids who share the responsability/usage of a
single wallet, like their parents entrusted them with it. One kid who was
holding on to it lost it. Then one of the other kids, says the following in
words of comfort :

_**Anyone who would have had it/hold on to it would have lost it. For sure**_

That would be my english translation.

My meaning assumption with the nuances I understand : _Even if it would have
been someone else who had it, he would have lost it anyway. For sure._

I'm sure these translation/meaning assumption should be pretty close to it,
but i'm very interested in your understanding/translation of this.

Now for the grammar I understand:

誰が= who, someone, anyone (why not ‎誰かが ?)

持ってても --> ていた (て form) + も = reverse condition = "even if" in that sentence,
which creates the conditional form

失くしてた --> ていた = ている use for expressing state, or state as a result of actions
in that case. = _had lost it_ , I assume you get the meaning of "would" from
the first part of the phrase, (like the も implies condition for both parts ?)
Or at least that is my understanding from
[Tofugu](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/verb-past-continuous-form-
teita/) Or is it something else that makes it a "would have" conditional verb
?

んだよ = のですよ = emphasis/explanation

My question is about 失くしてた : first of all why not 失くした and what different
meaning it would imply ? What is the exact grammar point/ meaning for ていた in
that case since Tofugu explains it only briefly? And what makes it a
conditional phrase since this is a transitive verb ?

Also why 誰が and not 誰かが for saying _anyone/anyone of us_ ?

Overall, is my understanding of the grammar points right ?

Have a great day

Edit : After reading stuff for 4 hours, I came upon [this
post](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/84286/standard-formula-for-
past-counterfactual-conditional-what-is-the-role-of-te-ir) which comes close
to my understanding of this, but unfortunately not very detailed :

_" However, if such sentence were about someone else and hypothetical meaning
was possible, then the use of ている is preferred with both verbs similar to how
we use past tense in English to make it counterfactual."_

What I understood from all my reading is :

  * This sentence uses the Third Conditional form which needs ている to be applied on both clauses.

  * て form + も in the verb of the first clause indicates conditional

  * The third conditional in english always uses counterfactual sentences (see [here](https://teflpedia.com/Third_conditional), I don't know if that is the case in japanese ?

If anyone had adademic ressources or personal input for japanese third
conditional (or counterfactual past conditional) that would be great !
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grammar meaning nuances syntax english-to-japanese
Past conditional with ていても/ていた
> 誰が持ってても失くしてたんだよ

We don't say 誰か because it means "someone" (a single definite person from a
group) and the idea here is that "anyone" would have lost it. However, this 誰
means "who" as a subject and not "someone", "anyone" or "everyone".

Similar to English: "Who ate the cake?". "Who" is the subject. In this
sentence, 誰 works in the exact same way, it acquires the meaning of anyone by
remaining undefined.

持ってても -> 持っていても -> 持って + いる (in て form) + も

て form + も means: "Even".

The "If" or conditional nuance comes from the て form. Similarly to English:
"Wait and see" meaning "If you wait, you will see". Remember how the て form is
used to mean "and".

失くしてた -> 失くして + いる (in the past)

In this case 失くしてた is used instead of 失くした because 失くしてた puts emphasis on the
idea that the loss has already occurred at a given point in the past and now
we are experiencing the consequences.

失くした focuses on the particular point in time we lost it. Given the nature of
the sentence we can see why 失くしてた is used here. You could also say it is the
way third conditionals are made. See
[Here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/60820/english-2nd-and-3rd-
conditional-in-japanese) for conditionals.

So, your translation is indeed correct.
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answer