To express regrets and missed opportunities in Danish, use a formula that closely mirrors English:
[Past Modal] + have + [Past Participle]
Skulle have and Burde have
Use skulle have ("should have") and burde have ("ought to have") for unfulfilled obligations and bad decisions.
| I should have thought the plan through. | Jeg skulle have gennemtænkt planen. |
| Ought we to have thought it through? | Burde vi have gennemtænkt det? |
| She should have listened to her gut feeling. | Hun skulle have lyttet til sin mavefornemmelse. |
Kunne have
To express a missed possibility (what someone "could have" done), use kunne have.
| He could have trusted his instinct. | Han kunne have stolet på sit instinkt. |
| No one could have foreseen the outcome. | Ingen kunne have forudset udfaldet. |
Negation
Place ikke immediately after the modal verb in a main clause.
| You ought not to have ignored your gut feeling. | Du burde ikke have ignoreret din mavefornemmelse. |
| They should not have bet the money on something so risky. | De skulle ikke have satset pengene på noget så risikabelt. |
Hindsight
When discussing regrets, bagklog (literally "backward-wise") is the perfect adjective for having 20/20 hindsight.
| wise after the event | bagklog |
| We should have known it, but it is easy to be wise after the fact. | Vi skulle have vidst det, men det er let at være bagklog. |
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