Would have meaning

These past modal verbs are all used hypothetically, to talk about things that didn't really happen in the past.

Could have + past participle

1: Could have + past participle means that something was possible in the past, or you had the ability to do something in the past, but that you didn't do it.

Would have been meaning

Could have meaning

Could have been meaning in hindi

Should have been meaning

Could have been vs would have been

(See also modals of ability.)

• I could have stayed up late, but I decided to go to bed early.
• They could have won the race, but they didn't try hard enough.
• Julie could have bought the book, but she borrowed it from the library instead.
• He could have studied harder, but he was too lazy and that's why he failed the exam.

Couldn't have + past participle means that something wasn't possible in the past, even if you had wanted to do it.

• I couldn't have arrived any earlier. There was a terrible traffic jam (= it was impossible for me to have arrived any earlier).
• He couldn't have passed the exam, even if he had studied harder. It's a really, really difficult exam.

2: We use could have + past participle when we want to make a guess about