説明
Use "could have" + past participle to talk about something that was possible in the past, but did not happen. It can also mean you think something may have happened in the past, but you are not sure.
In "I could have taken the train, but I missed it," "could have taken" shows that the train was a past option. "Taken" is the past participle, and "but I missed it" tells us the real result. In Japanese, this is often "〜できたのに" or "〜だったかもしれない," but English shows that meaning with "could have" + the past participle.
「could have + 過去分詞」は、過去にできたことが実際には起きなかった場合や。過去に何かが起きたかもしれないとは思うものの、確信は持てない、という意味でも使われます。
たとえば "I could have taken the train, but I missed it." では、"could have taken" が「電車に乗ることもできた」という意味で、"taken" は過去分詞です。後ろの "but I missed it" で、実際には乗らなかったことが分かります。日本語では「電車に乗れたのに」「電車に乗れたかもしれない」と言いますが、英語では "could have" でその意味を表します。
例文
- I could have taken the train, but I missed it. 電車に乗ることはできたのに、逃してしまいました。
- She could have finished earlier, but the meeting ran long. 会議が長引かなければ、彼女はもっと早く終えられたはずです。
- Could he have called you last night? 昨夜、彼があなたに電話していた可能性はありますか。
- We could have stayed home, but we went out. 家にいることもできたのに、外出しました。
- You could have asked me for help. 私に助けを求めることもできたのに。
- They couldn't have known about the change. 彼らがその変更を知っていたはずはありません。
- He could have been a great major leaguer if he had not hurt his knee. 膝を怪我していなければ、彼は素晴らしいメジャーリーガーになっていただろう。
よくある間違い
Japanese learners often say "I could have went to the station." After "could have," use the past participle, not the past simple. The correct sentence is "I could have gone to the station."
日本人学習者は "I could have went to the station." のように、"could have" の後ろを過去形にしてしまいがちです。"could have" の後ろは過去分詞なので、正しくは "I could have gone to the station." です。