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by ralferoo 459 days ago
What is the "nt'd" in supposed to be short for?

"y'couldn't'v'nt'd" to me sounds like "you couldn't have unted", which is true as I've never "unted" anything in my life.

I guess "I'd'nt've" means "I don't have", but in British English we'd still write that as "I don' 'av'" (as we'd also drop the t).

2 comments

I dunno man. I'm just typing what I hear & say. The first is "I do not think I would have done that", more or less. The second is "I could not have done that" but with an agreeing second negative? Like a hill people "I wouldn't do that if I weren't you."
Perhaps "I'd'nt've" is intended to be "I'dn't've", i.e. "I would not have":

I would -> I'd

would not -> wouldn't

So "I would not" -> "I'dn't"?

Sure, but I was asking about the "'nt'd" at the end of all that.

As a British English speaker, I can't even guess what verb they're trying to say that they wouldn't / couldn't have done.

Sorry, I should have made clear I was responding only to this part of your message:

  I guess "I'd'nt've" means "I don't have"
I think it meant 'I would not have', not "I don't have".