Breakdown of Il y a deux jours, il m'a informé qu'il aurait repoussé la réunion.
il
he
avoir
to have
la réunion
the meeting
deux
two
me
me, myself (object pronoun)
que
that (introducing a clause)
il y a
ago
le jour
the day
repousser
to postpone
informer
to inform
Questions & Answers about Il y a deux jours, il m'a informé qu'il aurait repoussé la réunion.
Why is aurait repoussé (the past conditional) used here?
Because this is reported speech introduced by a past tense verb (a informé). If his original direct statement used the futur antérieur (future perfect) to say j'aurai repoussé (I will have postponed), the sequence of tenses requires backshifting it to the conditionnel passé (aurait repoussé) in past reported speech.
What would his exact words have been in direct speech?
He most likely said: J'aurai repoussé la réunion (I will have postponed the meeting). When moved into past reported speech, the future perfect tense shifts back one step into the past conditional.
Could aurait repoussé also just mean an unfulfilled past action?
Yes! Outside of reported speech, the conditionnel passé usually means 'would have' in the sense of an unfulfilled condition (for example, he would have postponed it, but he forgot). However, in this specific backshifted context, it simply acts as the past equivalent of the future perfect.
I know il y a means 'there is', but how does it work to mean 'ago' here?
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