Brian McKnight's "Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda" is an excellent song to practice the third conditional.
The lyrics talk about regrets in the past. McKnight uses reduced forms of the modal verb + have:
shoulda = should have
woulda = would have
coulda = could have
Listen to the song and notice the difference in the way he says the 3rd conditional.
Here is the video, and the lyrics are below.
baby can you put them bags down
just wait hold on for a minute
gotta say a couple things before you go
even though i know that were finished
I don't want you to leave without knowin
just where i'm comin from babe
I just wanna say
I made a big mistake
and now I gotta face the fact that I
shoulda been a better man
the kinda man that you needed
woulda been better off
if I'd done right by you
I coulda done this
I coulda done that but
I know I can't go back
cause now its just too late
I'm sayin
shoulda woulda coulda yeah
I can tell by the look on your face
you ain't tryin to hear what I'm sayin
maybe you done heard all of this before
girl this ain't no game that I'm playin
this may be the last chance I ever have
to talk to you before you go
so I gotta say
I made a big mistake
girl you know its killing me that I
shoulda been a better man
the kinda man that you needed (all right)
woulda been better off
if I'd done right by you
I coulda done this (and)
I coulda done that but
I know i cant go back (go back)
cause now its just too late (now its just too late)
I'm sayin
shoulda woulda coulda yeah
I should have done my best to love you (baby)
I should have placed no one above you
and now its killing me more than you know
letting you go
thats why I
girl I know that I shoulda
shoulda been a better man
the kinda that you needed
(coulda been a better man man to you baby)
(shoulda been there for ya everytime you needed me everytime you called me)
woulda been better off
if I'd done right by you
(and you know that I)
I coulda done this
(I coulda done this)
I coulda done that but
(I coulda done that yeah)
I know I can't go back
(I know I can't go back baby)
cause now its just too late
(all I need to know is girl all I need to know is)
I'm sayin
shoulda woulda coulda yeah
(do you still love me like you used to baby)
(all the things I coulda done)
(all the things I shoulda done)
(sayin shoulda woulda coulda yeah)
(yeah)
(coulda been a better man to ya)
(now I understand)
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