the sweetest lines from the sweetest show
here is the conversation between Monica and her fiance Chandler from the TV sitcom "Friends".

"Monica: What else did you think about?

Chandler: Well, stuff like where we'd live, y'know? Like a small place outside the city, where our kids could learn to ride their bikes and stuff. Y'know, we could have a cat that had a bell on its collar and we could hear it every time it ran through the little kitty door. Of course, we'd have an apartment over the garage where Joey could grow old."

what i don't quite understand is:

1."had" and "ran" in "a cat that had a bell on its collar and we could hear it every time it ran through the little kitty door." is past tense, why is that? it's an imaginary situation, not an event in the past, i think.

2. do the "'d"s in "where we'd live" and "we'd have an apartment" mean "would" or "could"? and why?

Thank you very much for your kind help. :) have a nice day

Question

the sweetest lines from the sweetest show
here is the conversation between Monica and her fiance Chandler from the TV sitcom "Friends".

"Monica: What else did you think about?

Chandler: Well, stuff like where we'd live, y'know? Like a small place outside the city, where our kids could learn to ride their bikes and stuff. Y'know, we could have a cat that had a bell on its collar and we could hear it every time it ran through the little kitty door. Of course, we'd have an apartment over the garage where Joey could grow old."

what i don't quite understand is:

1."had" and "ran" in "a cat that had a bell on its collar and we could hear it every time it ran through the little kitty door." is past tense, why is that? it's an imaginary situation, not an event in the past, i think.

2. do the "'d"s in "where we'd live" and "we'd have an apartment" mean "would" or "could"? and why?

Thank you very much for your kind help. :)  have a nice day

Answer

1. Chandler's grammar is absolutely correct. We can put a verb into (what looks like) past tense to imagine the present or future.  It's called past subjunctive, and it's exactly what you see in second conditionals.  How do we know it's not past tense? Easy: there's no time in the past given.  "Would" and "could" are also past forms of the modals "will" and "can", by the way. It's also absolutely clear that Chandler is speaking entirely in theory.

2. The only words that can contract into 'd are "would" and "had".  "Could" never contracts, and neither does "should". It's not a case of abbreviation.  In both your examples, the only possibility is "would".

Answer

This was surprisingly easy to find online!

http://youtu.be/xDaP2LeUNWM

I am no English professor, I could be wrong, and I hope I don't confuse you!  It's such an interesting question, I had to attempt to answer it!

1.  Honestly, after listening to Chandler's entire thought, I think he is actually wrong in using "had" and "ran", it doesn't seem to match the tense of the other sentences.  I think he should use "has" and "runs".  " Y'know, we could have a cat that HAS a bell on its collar and we could hear it every time it RUNS through the little kitty door."

However, if we only look at that sentence, without the others, I think it's fine.

Chandler is talking about an imaginery event in the future.  He is currently pretending he is in the future, remembering the life he lived in his pretend house with Monica.  For example, if today I wanted to tell you about a pet I HAD when I was a child, I might say:  "I HAD a pet dog.  He RAN into the kitchen every night."  Past tense.

2.  "Would".  "We'd come over, but it's raining."  "We would come over, but it is raining."  Could is not used in contractions like that.

Answer

They could have said, "We could have a cat that WOULD HAVE a bell on its collar, and we could hear it every time it WOULD RUN through the little kitty door."  Honestly, though, I don't think any native English speaker other than someone anally fixated on just the absolutely correct grammar would ever say it that way.  The way he said it is the way a normal English speaker would say it.

The contractions are "we would."  They are routinely contracted to "we'd."  Also, "he'd, she'd, they'd."  I am sitting here trying to figure out if we ever contract "it" and "would."  I think we do. "It'd be a cold day in Hell before I go out with him again!"  ("It'd"  could even just sound like "Id."   "Id" be stupid for you to do that!)

He could, we could, you could, etc. do not contract.

Answers · 3

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