Were you to have helped/ If you had helped

[Vladv1]

"Were you to have helped her yesterday, she would have been very happy" and /"If you had helped her yesterday, she would have been very happy".
What's the difference in usage between the two conditional structures in bold? They both denote something that's contrary to the past, in other words something could have happened but it didn't, so what's the nuance?

 

[Tarheel]

The first one seems artificial. (See below.)

Abe: If you had helped her yesterday she would have been very happy.
Bob: Oh? I didn't know she wanted me to.

 

[SoothingDave]

It's not artificial, but it is less natural because the subjunctive is not very common.

 

[tedmc]

"If you were to have help her yesterday..." would be better more common.

 

[emsr2d2]

"If you were to have helped her yesterday ..." would be better/more common.

That is not grammatically correct (see my corrections). Even the correct version would not be better or more common than "If you'd helped her ...".

 

[emsr2d2]

1. Were you to have helped her yesterday, she would have been very happy.
2. If you had helped her yesterday, she would have been very happy.

What's the difference in usage between the two conditional structures in bold above? They both denote something that's contrary to the past; in other words, something could have happened but it didn't. so what's the nuance?

Please note my changes above. When you give us more than one sentence to look at, please present them as a numbered list so that it's easier for us to refer to them in our responses.
Did you write both sentences yourself?

 

[Vladv1]

Please note my changes above. When you give us more than one sentence to look at, please present them as a numbered list so that it's easier for us to refer to them in our responses.
Did you write both sentences yourself?

Thanks, yes, I wrote them myself.

 

[Tarheel]

How about: "If you had helped her she would have been happy."

 

[emsr2d2]

How about no colon here "If you had helped her, she would have been happy"?

That works too.

 

[abo.omar]

How about: "If you had helped her she would have been happy."

It would be real past. You didn't help her, she wasn't happy.

 

[emsr2d2]

It would be real past. You didn't help her, so she wasn't happy.

I don't understand what you mean by the underlined part. Please explain it a different way.

 

[abo.omar]

I don't understand what you mean by the underlined part. Please explain it a different way.

I don't understand what you mean by the underlined part. Please explain it a different way.

You can read about the third conditional if to get it .

 

[jutfrank]

Were you to have helped her yesterday, she would have been very happy.

Where did you find this sentence? Did you make it up yourself? If so, why?

The use of such subject-auxiliary inversion (with were) in conditional sentences is more typically found in Type 2 forms, where it places emphasis on the hypothetical or tentative nature of the event, and may sound more formal or polite.

 

[jutfrank]

It would be real past.

I think you mean unreal, not real.

You didn't help her, she wasn't happy.

Yes, that's right.