This is a sentence from Death Note. The assassin has just said "I am
victorious!" thinking his plan to kill everyone was successful. But being
alive and still, the detective says:

> あなたはさっき、自分の勝ちを宣言しましたが、確かに本来あなたは勝っていた。私は負けていました。

At first, I read this last part as "Originally you were winning and I was
losing". But I decided to check the official translation both in English and
Portuguese, and they both translate as "As a matter of fact, you would have
won and I would have lost" with the "if things had gone your way" implied.

So, both English and Portuguese translate it as the second part of a
conditional sentence, a third conditional sentence where the IF part is
implied.

I don't actually know how to produce this grammar. Or even recognize it
without the help of context. Since all I see is the use of past continuous
tense.

If I want to make my own sentences, let's say: If I had studied more, I would
have passed my university entrance exams... What kind of grammar would I have
to use?

I have seen other posts working on that subject and explanations that past
tense in Japanese can be subjunctive, and actually mean hypothesis and so, and
it just got me more confused.
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2022-08-12T12:54:32.803
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2023-05-11T03:04:30.507
2022-08-13T17:07:59.827
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question
grammar translation conditionals
Doubt about third conditional sentence
I don't think past continuous tense has any function to make sentences
hypothetical.

> 確かに本来あなたは勝っていた。私は負けていました。

This sentence states a different possibility from the present situation and
it's the work of 本来, not past continuous tense. Simply speaking, it can be
translated as:

> Originally, you should have won and I should have lost.

On second thought, we usually put the opposite sentences right after the word
"originally", right?

> i.e.) I would have studied abroad originally (if nothing had happened), but
> I decided to stay in Japan because of COVID

So, I think the word itself has a hypothetical nuance, which addresses an
event that might have happened if nothing had happened. This can be the reason
why they translated it in hypothesis.

On the contrary, I can see a clear hypothetical precondition in the following
sentence:

> If I had studied more, I would have passed my university entrance exams

So I'd simply say 「もしもっと勉強していたら、大学に入学できていただろうに」or something.
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2022-08-14T01:56:58.173
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answer