Conditional followed by the infinitive

Question

In the exercise, the meaning of "Il aurait adoré la rencontrer" is given as "He would have loved meeting her". Am I correct in assuming that it can also be translated as "He would have loved to meet her"? In the first instance, in English, the implication is that he actually did meet her, but the second means that he hadn't met her at the time.

To go further, would "He would have loved to have met her" be translated as "Il aurait adoré l'avoir rencontrée"? Is this idiomatic?

Accepted Answer

Hi Harry,
Thank you for pointing this out, we have changed the English to 'to meet her'. Although you could say both, we prefer 'to meet her'' and yes the meeting never happened in this case and it is a regret.
To express something that had not been possible at that time and is now unlikely or impossible, you would say -

He would have loved to have met her =
Il aurait aimé l’avoir rencontrée

Hope this helps!

Answer

Hi Harry,Setting a conditional scene means to me that the event has not actually happened unless the "condition" is met.So I agree with your initial two points.In English, to my mind again; has the condition been met or not? To write "He would have loved to meet her" doesn't tell me that the meeting actually happened only that he "would have" desired that outcome.Finally, I agree with your French translation.Bonne JournéeJim

Answer

I also don't see any change in meaning between "I would have loved meeting her" and "I would have loved to meet her". In either case the conditional "would have loved" makes it clear that the meeting did not happen.

Answer

@Chris: "the conditional "[he] would have loved" makes it clear that the meeting did not happen". Not necessarily. It could be that the meeting took place and the speaker is surmising that he loved it. The negative propositions make the distinction clearer: "He would have loved not meeting her" and "He would not have loved meeting her". In French, "Il aurait adoré ne pas la rencontrer" and "Il n'aurait pas adoré la rencontrer"; or  "Il aurait adoré ne pas l'avoir rencontrée" and "Il n'aurait pas adoré l'avoir rencontrée".