Breakdown of Ele nunca se teria arrependido dessa decisão.
ele
he
ter
to have
esse
that (esse, essa, esses, essas)
nunca
never
Questions & Answers about Ele nunca se teria arrependido dessa decisão.
How is the compound conditional formed in this sentence?
It is formed by using the conditional of the auxiliary verb ter, which is teria, followed by the past participle of the main verb, arrependido. This creates the meaning 'would have regretted' to talk about a hypothetical past situation.
Why does the reflexive pronoun se appear before the verb rather than attaching to it?
Why is it dessa decisão instead of just essa decisão?
The reflexive verb arrepender-se is always followed by the preposition de when stating what you regret. When de meets the demonstrative pronoun essa, they contract into dessa.
Could we use haver instead of ter as the auxiliary verb here?
Yes, you could technically say se haveria arrependido, but haver is mostly restricted to formal or literary writing. In everyday European Portuguese, ter is the standard and most natural choice for forming compound tenses.