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I am very familiar with the expressions in column A below.  How do these differ in meaning from the corresponding expressions in column B?

 

             A                                                          B

 

  Il aurait dû le faire                             il devrait l’avoir fait

  Il aurait pu le faire                             il pourrait l’avoir fait

  Il aurait voulu le faire                        il voudrait l’avoir fait

 

To me, the B expressions  appear to be softened forms of:  il doit l’avoir fait, il peut l’avoir fait, and il veut l’avoir fait, all of which bring to mind a courtroom situation in which one is awaiting the outcome of a trial: he must have done it, he may have done it, and he wants to have done it (assuming he can’t remember whether he did it or not).   

 

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To help you understand common interpretations of the (B) versions, imagine saying in English:

"It ought to be the case that he did it"

"It could be the case that he did it"

"He wishes it was the case that he had done it"

In reality, both (A) and (B) may end up being translated similarly, since e.g. saying in English "He ought to have done it" can be interpreted as either "At that moment, it was necessary for him to do it" or "It ought to be the case now that he has done it".

(You'll also get some other possible interpretations of these forms, because the conditional occurs as a future-in-the-past in reported speech. But I'll leave that complication aside for now.)

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