we would do better to have

[kingston_123]

Debelzaq and Behman are about to an abbey, which is 100 leagues away:

Debelzaq: But these are the best maps in the land.
Behman: But we would do better to have a guide.

Does changing "to" with "if we" change the meaning?
Source: Season of the Witch (2011)

 

[tedmc]

Does changing "to" [STRIKE]with[/STRIKE] to "if we" change the meaning?

Yes, you could do that.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think it is an implied conditional.

'We would do better to have a guide' = 'We would do better if we had a guide'.

 

[kingston_123]

I think it is an implied conditional.

'We would do better to have a guide' = 'We would do better if we had a guide'.

An original sentence have "have" not "had".

 

[Matthew Wai]

In your sentence, 'to have' is a to-infinitive.
In my sentence, 'had' is the past subjunctive used in the second conditional.