Ch 26 · Lesson 8Spanish · Chapter 26 · Lesson 8 · Grammar primer
The pluperfect subjunctive and conditional perfect
Two tenses of plus a participle: (or ) and . Only changes.
The short version
, : only
, .
Why?Hide
Both tenses are plus a past participle. (or ) gives the pluperfect subjunctive, the conditional perfect. The participle stays for every person, and nothing goes between the two: . The form takes an accent: .
The two tenses on one screen
| Tense | Built from | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pluperf. subj. | imperfect subjunctive of | |
| Cond. perfect | conditional of | |
| Job | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| the unreal if | ... | If I had known... |
| the unreal result | ... . | ...I would have come. |
| an earlier action | . | I was glad that you had come. |
| regret | . | If only we had studied more. |
| would have, alone | ¿ ? | What would you have done? |
The blue box is the pluperfect subjunctive and the dashed pink box the conditional perfect, all page long. You need the imperfect subjunctive and the conditional first: these two tenses are those tenses of .
Building the pluperfect subjunctive
Take the imperfect subjunctive of and add a past participle:
| Person | -ra set | -se set |
|---|---|---|
| yo | | |
| | |
| , , | | |
| | |
| | |
| , | | |
The two sets mean the same: and are both "if he/she had come". The forms carry a written accent: , .
Three rules hold for every compound tense:
| Rule | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| no agreement | ... | If they had spoken... |
| nothing between | ... | If you hadn't said it... |
| pronouns in front | ... | If you had told me... |
Building the conditional perfect
Same participle, a different : the conditional, .
| Person | Cond. perfect | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | | I would have eaten |
| you would have eaten | |
| , , | | he/she would have eaten |
| we would have eaten | |
| you would have eaten | |
| , | | they would have eaten |
The stem is the short habr- of and , and every form keeps the accent on the í. There is no -se version: the conditional is always -ía.
On its own it says what would have happened:
¿ ?- What would you have done in my place?.- I wouldn't have said it.
Going further: Si hubiera sabido, habría venido and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
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8-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
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