If I (had) practiced more, I'd be able to speak English as well as them now

[Ashraful Haque]

1. Everytime I see someone speaking better English than me I feel like if I had practiced more, I'd be able to speak English as well as them now.

2. Everytime I see someone speaking better English than me I feel like if I practiced more, I'd be able to speak English as well as them now.

I asked chatgpt the question above and it said 1 is the correct way to say it. But since I don't fully trust AI, I was hoping to get affarmation from humans if 1 is the correct way to say it and if so, why.

 

[Tarheel]

Without "had" you are talking about the future. You would also need to change the verb, thus: "If I practice more I will do better." (Almost certainly true.)

 

[jutfrank]

Both forms are correct but they have different meanings:

1. ... if I had practiced more [in past time], I'd be able to speak English as well as them now.

2. ... if I practiced more [in general present time], I'd be able to speak English as well as them now.

 

[Rover_KE]

NOTE: BrE practice (noun) practise (verb) - AmE practice (noun and verb)

 

[Ashraful Haque]

1. Everytime I see someone speaking better English than me I feel like if I had practiced more, I'd be able to speak English as well as them now.

Thank you for the answers. Since I was talking about becoming a better speaker as a result of practing in the past, I think 1 is the one I should use here.

 

[teechar]

1. Every time I see someone speaking better English than me, I feel like/that if I had practiced more, I'd be able to speak English as well as them now.

Thank you for the answers. Since I was talking about becoming a better speaker as a result of practisng in the past, I think 1 is the one I should use here.

Note that in BrE, practice is the noun and practise is the verb. AmE uses practice for both.