had had

[thomasRavenelli]

1. "we would have been more prepared had we had more time"

I am wondering why we use "had had" here and why we is in the middle of it. couldn't the sentence be more accurate if it had been
2. " we would have been more prepared if we had more time " or even
3. " we would have been more prepared if we had had more time"

by the way assume 2 and 3 are corect which one is more appropriate
thx

[tedtmc]

1 & 2 are correct. 'Had we had' is the same as 'if we had'.
I don't think 3 (past perfect) is appropriate.

not a teacher

[Clark]

Originally Posted by thomasRavenelli

1. "we would have been more prepared had we had more time"

I am wondering why we use "had had" here and why we is in the middle of it. couldn't the sentence be more accurate if it had been
2. " we would have been more prepared if we had more time " or even
3. " we would have been more prepared if we had had more time"

by the way assume 2 and 3 are corect which one is more appropriate
thx

#1 is correct. There is inversion in this sentence.
#2 is incorrect.
#3 is correct. It's the same as #1 but with a direct word order.

[thomasRavenelli]

why 2 is wrong? can you explain?

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by thomasRavenelli

why 2 is wrong? can you explain?

"If we had more time (now) we would do it."

"If we had had more time (yesterday) we would have done it."

[Clark]

Originally Posted by thomasRavenelli

2. " we would have been more prepared if we had more time "

In this sentence 'if we had more time' is a condition and 'we would have been more prepared' is a consequence.
'If we had more time' refers to the present (due to the form 'had').
'We would have been more prepared' refers to the past (due to the form 'would have been').
Now, just think how could a hypothetical situation in the present involve something as consequence in the past. Absurd, isn't it?

It could be vice versa. The condition could refer to the past, and the consequence from it - to the present. For that you need to change the verb forms in the sentence as follows:
If we had had more time we would be more prepared now.