I would have had him above fifty

MEHRANQ

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Jan 30, 2020
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'I would have had him above fifty' is underlined in the picture. I understand the meaning of it, but I want to know the grammar name to search and study about it.

source: Disco Elysium
 

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Please tell us what you think it means.
I think Kim guessed his age wrongly.

His real age was 42 but he guessed it was above 50.
 
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I think Kim guess his age wrongly.

his real age was 42 but he guessed it was above 50.
That's basically correct. Kim didn't actually guess at the other guy's age, but if Kim had guessed, he would have guessed him to be over 50.

As far as the grammar goes, it's like a third conditional (past unreal) without the corresponding 'if' clause. The expression is almost a set phrase, so I don't know that you'll find much (if anything) to research. Sometimes you'll see it with 'put' in place of 'had'.

You'll find plenty about the various conditionals and their usages, but this technically isn't a conditional.
 

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