grammar question

[mieth]

Hello everyone. Im trying to find out how to express a hypothetical with a past progressive condition.

for example

for me to be a professional baseball player I would have had to have been playing since I was young.

Now that I am 27 it is obviously too late for me to become a professional baseball player hence I would have needed to start in the past in order to have the skill requirement.

another

In order to get to our destination by 4pm we would have needed to have left by 10am.
anyway this sort of past progressive conditional is what I am looking for.

For the first example the best I can think of is

もし野球選手になりたかったら小さいなころからやってはいけないね

anywho let me know what you guys think.

[Javizy]

もし野球選手になりたかったら小さいなころからやってはいけないね

I can't really answer your question, but you might like to know that てはいけない actually means 'must not/cannot do something', so you hear mothers shout it a lot about their kids. You probably meant なければならない 'have to, must, need'.

On a side note, I was wondering if ば would be more appropriate in this sentence. I've been meaning to go over the differences between the 4 conditionals, because they're quite confusing, but it's my understanding that the subordinate and main clauses in a たら sentence have a sequential relationship, like 'if I was a baseball player, I'd move to a bigger house', 'when the coach blows his whistle, all the players stop'. The subordinate clause has to be fulfilled before the event in the main clause can happen. So can it be used in this sentence?

[hatch_jp]

Conditional type 3, a hypothetical with a past progressive condition, can be translate into a past tense in Japanese.

for me to be a professional baseball player I would have had to have been playing since I was young.
プロ野球選手になるなら、小さい頃から始めなければならなかった。　or
プロ野球選手になるなら、小さい頃から始めるべきだった。


In order to get to our destination by 4pm we would have needed to have left by 10am.
午後４時までに着くためには、１０時までには出発しなければならなかった。



The following sentence is conditional type 2, a hypothetical with a present progressive condition, so it can be translate into a present tense in Japanese.
If I was a baseball player, I'd move to a bigger house
もし野球選手だったら、大きな家に引っ越す。 or
もし野球選手だったら、大きな家に引っ越すのに。　or
もし野球選手だったら、大きな家に引っ越すだろう。



Conditional type 2, a hypothetical with a present progressive condition;
　If I had much money, I could buy it.
　もしももっとお金を持っていたら、それを買うことができる。　or
　もしももっとお金を持っていたら、それを買うことができるのに。　or
　もしももっとお金を持っていたら、それを買うことができるだろう。

Conditional type 3, a hypothetical with a past progressive condition;
　If I had had much money, I could have bought it.
　もしももっとお金を持っていたら、それを買うことができた。　or
　もしももっとお金を持っていたら、それを買うことができたのに。　or
　もしももっとお金を持っていたら、それを買うことができただろう。