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0z\"\u002F>",true,{"id":46,"title":47,"author":48,"body":49,"cefrLevel":644,"date":48,"description":645,"exercises":48,"extension":646,"faqs":647,"gcseTier":657,"intro":658,"language":659,"lastUpdated":48,"meta":660,"navigation":44,"path":661,"seo":662,"stem":663,"verbSlugs":48,"__hash__":664},"pages\u002Fspanish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fpluperfect.md","The Spanish Pluperfect (había hablado)",null,{"type":50,"value":51,"toc":632},"minimark",[52,57,82,106,111,121,207,250,285,289,300,322,337,341,344,373,376,400,403,407,410,452,455,459,467,489,492,496,534,538,551,560,570,590,600,604],[53,54,56],"h1",{"id":55},"the-pluperfect","The Pluperfect",[58,59,60,61,65,66,69,70,73,74,77,78,81],"p",{},"The pluperfect - ",[62,63,64],"strong",{},"el pluscuamperfecto"," - is the tense for the ",[62,67,68],{},"past before the past",". You are already narrating in past time, and you need to point at something that had ",[62,71,72],{},"already happened"," by then. English calls it \"had done\"; Spanish builds it as ",[62,75,76],{},"había"," plus a past participle. ",[62,79,80],{},"Cuando llegué, ya había salido"," - when I arrived, she had already left.",[58,83,84,85,88,89,92,93,96,97,101,102,105],{},"It is a compound tense, so it is formulaic: the auxiliary ",[62,86,87],{},"haber"," plus a ",[62,90,91],{},"past participle",", and here the auxiliary sits in the ",[62,94,95],{},"imperfect",". This page assumes you can already build the ",[98,99,95],"a",{"href":100},"\u002Fspanish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fimperfect"," and that your participles - ",[62,103,104],{},"hablado, comido, vivido, hecho, dicho, visto, puesto, vuelto, escrito"," - are solid.",[107,108,110],"h2",{"id":109},"building-it-imperfect-of-haber-participle","Building it: imperfect of haber + participle",[58,112,113,114,117,118,120],{},"One line. Take the ",[62,115,116],{},"imperfect of haber"," and add a ",[62,119,91],{},".",[122,123,124,140],"table",{},[125,126,127],"thead",{},[128,129,130,134,137],"tr",{},[131,132,133],"th",{},"Person",[131,135,136],{},"haber (imperfect)",[131,138,139],{},"+ hablado",[141,142,143,154,165,174,185,196],"tbody",{},[128,144,145,149,151],{},[146,147,148],"td",{},"yo",[146,150,76],{},[146,152,153],{},"había hablado",[128,155,156,159,162],{},[146,157,158],{},"tú",[146,160,161],{},"habías",[146,163,164],{},"habías hablado",[128,166,167,170,172],{},[146,168,169],{},"él \u002F ella \u002F usted",[146,171,76],{},[146,173,153],{},[128,175,176,179,182],{},[146,177,178],{},"nosotros",[146,180,181],{},"habíamos",[146,183,184],{},"habíamos hablado",[128,186,187,190,193],{},[146,188,189],{},"vosotros",[146,191,192],{},"habíais",[146,194,195],{},"habíais hablado",[128,197,198,201,204],{},[146,199,200],{},"ellos \u002F ellas \u002F ustedes",[146,202,203],{},"habían",[146,205,206],{},"habían hablado",[58,208,209,210,213,214,217,218,221,222,225,226,229,230,233,234,237,238,241,242,245,246,249],{},"So ",[62,211,212],{},"había comido"," (I had eaten), ",[62,215,216],{},"habías venido"," (you had come), ",[62,219,220],{},"habíamos hecho"," (we had done), ",[62,223,224],{},"habían dicho"," (they had said). Three things to fix. Every form of the auxiliary carries a ",[62,227,228],{},"written accent"," - ",[62,231,232],{},"había, habías, habíamos"," - because without it the stress falls wrong. The ",[62,235,236],{},"participle never moves",": it is ",[62,239,240],{},"hablado"," for every person and both genders, since in a compound tense only the auxiliary conjugates. And ",[62,243,244],{},"nothing comes between haber and the participle"," - pronouns and negatives sit in front: ",[62,247,248],{},"no lo había visto",", never \"había no visto\".",[58,251,252,253,256,257,260,261,264,265,268,269,272,273,276,277,280,281,284],{},"The irregular participles you already know carry straight over: ",[62,254,255],{},"había hecho"," (done), ",[62,258,259],{},"había dicho"," (said), ",[62,262,263],{},"había visto"," (seen), ",[62,266,267],{},"había puesto"," (put), ",[62,270,271],{},"había escrito"," (written), ",[62,274,275],{},"había vuelto"," (returned), ",[62,278,279],{},"había roto"," (broken), ",[62,282,283],{},"había abierto"," (opened).",[107,286,288],{"id":287},"what-it-means-a-past-inside-a-past","What it means: a past inside a past",[58,290,291,292,295,296,299],{},"The pluperfect always looks back from a past reference point to something earlier. Picture two moments on the past-time line: a ",[62,293,294],{},"past reference point",", and an action that was ",[62,297,298],{},"already finished"," before it. The finished-earlier action is the pluperfect.",[301,302,303,310,316],"ul",{},[304,305,306,309],"li",{},[62,307,308],{},"Cuando llegué a casa, mi hermano ya había cenado."," (When I got home, my brother had already had dinner.) - the arriving is the reference point (preterite); the dinner happened before it (pluperfect).",[304,311,312,315],{},[62,313,314],{},"No entendí la película porque no había leído el libro."," (I didn't understand the film because I hadn't read the book.)",[304,317,318,321],{},[62,319,320],{},"Nos dijo que había estado en México."," (She told us she had been to Mexico.)",[58,323,324,325,328,329,332,333,336],{},"Take away the earlier-than relationship and the pluperfect disappears. Two past actions in plain sequence take ",[62,326,327],{},"two preterites",": ",[62,330,331],{},"entré y me senté"," (I went in and sat down). The pluperfect is reserved for the action that jumps ",[62,334,335],{},"behind"," the other one.",[107,338,340],{"id":339},"the-pluperfect-vs-the-preterite-and-imperfect","The pluperfect vs the preterite and imperfect",[58,342,343],{},"All three are past tenses, but they do different jobs, and the pluperfect is the only one that means \"before another past\".",[301,345,346,355,364],{},[304,347,348,351,352],{},[62,349,350],{},"Preterite"," - a completed past event, in its own time: ",[62,353,354],{},"llegó a las ocho.",[304,356,357,360,361],{},[62,358,359],{},"Imperfect"," - an ongoing or habitual past state: ",[62,362,363],{},"llovía, siempre llegaba tarde.",[304,365,366,369,370],{},[62,367,368],{},"Pluperfect"," - an event already finished before a past reference point: ",[62,371,372],{},"cuando llegó, ya había parado de llover.",[58,374,375],{},"Watch the three together:",[377,378,379],"blockquote",{},[58,380,381,384,385,388,389,392,393,396,397,120],{},[62,382,383],{},"Eran"," las nueve. ",[62,386,387],{},"Había llovido"," toda la tarde, pero ahora ",[62,390,391],{},"escampaba",". Cuando por fin ",[62,394,395],{},"salí",", las calles ya se ",[62,398,399],{},"habían secado",[58,401,402],{},"It was nine (imperfect, the scene). It had rained all afternoon (pluperfect, finished before \"now\" in the story). It was clearing up (imperfect, ongoing). When I finally went out (preterite, the event). The streets had already dried (pluperfect, finished before I went out). Each tense earns its place.",[107,404,406],{"id":405},"its-natural-companions-ya-todavía-no-nunca-antes","Its natural companions: ya, todavía no, nunca, antes",[58,408,409],{},"Certain adverbs almost summon the pluperfect, because they compare one past point to an earlier one.",[301,411,412,422,432,442],{},[304,413,414,417,418,421],{},[62,415,416],{},"ya"," (already): ",[62,419,420],{},"Cuando el tren salió, ya habíamos subido."," (When the train left, we had already got on.)",[304,423,424,427,428,431],{},[62,425,426],{},"todavía no \u002F aún no"," (not yet): ",[62,429,430],{},"Eran las diez y todavía no había llegado."," (It was ten and he still had not arrived.)",[304,433,434,437,438,441],{},[62,435,436],{},"nunca \u002F jamás"," (never, up to that point): ",[62,439,440],{},"Era el mejor viaje que había hecho nunca."," (It was the best trip I had ever made.)",[304,443,444,447,448,451],{},[62,445,446],{},"antes"," (before): ",[62,449,450],{},"Nunca antes había visto el mar."," (I had never seen the sea before.)",[58,453,454],{},"The pluperfect sets the \"by then\" frame - by the time X happened, Y had (or had not yet) happened - and these adverbs mark which side of it you are on.",[107,456,458],{"id":457},"in-reported-speech","In reported speech",[58,460,461,462,466],{},"When you report in the past what someone said, a present perfect or a preterite in the original often slides back to the pluperfect (see ",[98,463,465],{"href":464},"\u002Fspanish\u002Fgrammar\u002Freported-speech","reported speech",").",[301,468,469,480],{},[304,470,471,472,475,476,479],{},"Direct: ",[62,473,474],{},"\"He terminado.\""," -> Reported: ",[62,477,478],{},"Dijo que había terminado."," (He said he had finished.)",[304,481,471,482,475,485,488],{},[62,483,484],{},"\"Llegué tarde.\"",[62,486,487],{},"Admitió que había llegado tarde."," (He admitted he had arrived late.)",[58,490,491],{},"The backshift is automatic: a finished action, reported from a past vantage point, becomes pluperfect.",[107,493,495],{"id":494},"worked-examples","Worked examples",[301,497,498,504,510,516,522,528],{},[304,499,500,503],{},[62,501,502],{},"Cuando llamaste, ya me había ido."," (When you called, I had already left.)",[304,505,506,509],{},[62,507,508],{},"No sabía la noticia porque no había leído el periódico."," (I didn't know the news because I hadn't read the paper.)",[304,511,512,515],{},[62,513,514],{},"Nos habíamos conocido años antes, en la universidad."," (We had met years earlier, at university.)",[304,517,518,521],{},[62,519,520],{},"Para cuando llegó la ambulancia, el hombre ya había recuperado el conocimiento."," (By the time the ambulance arrived, the man had already regained consciousness.)",[304,523,524,527],{},[62,525,526],{},"Era la primera vez que había probado el pulpo."," (It was the first time I had tried octopus.)",[304,529,530,533],{},[62,531,532],{},"Me dijo que nunca había estado tan cansada."," (She told me she had never been so tired.)",[107,535,537],{"id":536},"common-mistakes-english-speakers-make","Common mistakes English speakers make",[58,539,540,543,544,546,547,550],{},[62,541,542],{},"Forgetting the accent on haber."," It is ",[62,545,232],{}," with a written accent on every form. Dropping it (",[62,548,549],{},"habia",") is a spelling error and mispronounces the word.",[58,552,553,556,557,559],{},[62,554,555],{},"Using the preterite where the pluperfect is needed."," English is sometimes loose - \"when I arrived she already left\" - but Spanish is strict: the earlier action must be pluperfect. ",[62,558,80],{},", not \"ya salió\".",[58,561,562,565,566,569],{},[62,563,564],{},"Splitting haber from the participle."," Nothing goes between them. Pronouns and negatives sit in front of the whole block: ",[62,567,568],{},"no lo había hecho, ya se habían ido",", never \"había lo hecho\".",[58,571,572,575,576,579,580,583,584,587,588,120],{},[62,573,574],{},"Making the participle agree."," In a compound tense the participle is invariable: ",[62,577,578],{},"ella había hablado, ellas habían hablado, las cartas que había escrito"," - always ",[62,581,582],{},"-o",". Agreement belongs to ",[62,585,586],{},"ser\u002Festar"," constructions, not to ",[62,589,87],{},[58,591,592,593,595,596,599],{},"Build it from the imperfect of haber, use it for the action that was already over when another past moment arrived, and let ",[62,594,416],{}," and ",[62,597,598],{},"todavía no"," mark the \"by then\". That is the whole of the pluperfect.",[107,601,603],{"id":602},"see-also","See also",[301,605,606,612,619,626],{},[304,607,608,611],{},[98,609,610],{"href":100},"The imperfect"," - the tense of haber that powers the pluperfect, and the scene-setting past it pairs with.",[304,613,614,618],{},[98,615,617],{"href":616},"\u002Fspanish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fpreterite","The preterite"," - the past reference point the pluperfect reaches back from.",[304,620,621,625],{},[98,622,624],{"href":623},"\u002Fspanish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fcompound-tenses-overview","Compound tenses overview"," - the future perfect and the literary past anterior, the pluperfect's compound cousins.",[304,627,628,631],{},[98,629,630],{"href":464},"Reported speech"," - where a finished past slides into the pluperfect under a past reporting verb.",{"title":633,"searchDepth":634,"depth":634,"links":635},"",2,[636,637,638,639,640,641,642,643],{"id":109,"depth":634,"text":110},{"id":287,"depth":634,"text":288},{"id":339,"depth":634,"text":340},{"id":405,"depth":634,"text":406},{"id":457,"depth":634,"text":458},{"id":494,"depth":634,"text":495},{"id":536,"depth":634,"text":537},{"id":602,"depth":634,"text":603},"B1","The pluperfect - el pluscuamperfecto - is the imperfect of haber plus a past participle: había hablado, habías comido, había venido. It marks the past-before-the-past: the action that was already finished when another past moment arrived. Cuando llegué, ya había salido - when I arrived, she had already left. This page builds the paradigm (había \u002F habías \u002F había \u002F habíamos \u002F habíais \u002F habían + participle), pins down when it beats the preterite and imperfect, and covers its everyday partners ya, todavía no, nunca and its role in reported speech.","md",[648,651,654],{"q":649,"a":650},"How do you form the pluperfect in Spanish?","Take the imperfect of haber and add a past participle. The auxiliary runs había, habías, había, habíamos, habíais, habían - note the written accent on every form. So hablar gives había hablado, comer gives había comido, vivir gives había vivido. The participle never changes for person or gender in a compound tense, and nothing may come between haber and it: pronouns and negatives sit in front (no lo había visto). The irregular participles carry over: había hecho, había dicho, había visto, había puesto, había escrito, había vuelto.",{"q":652,"a":653},"What is the difference between the pluperfect and the preterite?","The preterite reports a past event in its own right - llegué, I arrived. The pluperfect reports an event that was already complete before that past moment - había llegado, I had arrived. In a single sentence they stack: cuando llamaste, ya me había ido (when you called, I had already left) - the calling is the past reference point in the preterite, the leaving is the earlier past in the pluperfect. If two past actions happen in sequence with no 'earlier than' relationship, you use two preterites (entré y me senté); the pluperfect is only for the one that happened before the other.",{"q":655,"a":656},"When do you use the pluperfect with ya and todavía no?","Ya (already) and todavía no \u002F aún no (not yet) are the pluperfect's most natural companions, because both measure one past point against an earlier one. Cuando el tren salió, ya habíamos subido (when the train left, we had already got on). Eran las diez y todavía no había llegado (it was ten and he still had not arrived). The pluperfect sets up the 'by then' frame - by the time X happened, Y had \u002F had not yet happened - and ya \u002F todavía no mark which side of it you are on.","higher","The pluperfect is the tense for a past inside a past. When you are already telling a story in past time and need to reach back to something that had happened even earlier, this is the tense that takes you there: había hablado, I had spoken. It is a compound tense, so it is built the easy way - the auxiliary haber in the imperfect (había, habías, había...) plus a past participle - and it behaves exactly like the English 'had done'. Cuando llegué a casa, mi hermano ya había cenado: when I got home, my brother had already had dinner. The dinner is past, but it is past relative to my arrival, which is itself past. This page builds the paradigm, shows how it slots between the preterite and the imperfect on the past-time line, and covers the words that most often travel with it - ya, todavía no, nunca, antes. It assumes you can already form the imperfect and know your past participles.","spanish",{},"\u002Fspanish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fpluperfect",{"title":47,"description":645},"spanish\u002Fgrammar\u002Fpluperfect","Da9m4XVoKVFVtI30TV6oIl9OQZtTHhSoxfx9J2U_pwk",[],{"left":4,"top":4,"width":5,"height":5,"rotate":4,"vFlip":6,"hFlip":6,"body":667},"\u003Cg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" stroke-width=\"2\">\u003Cpath d=\"M12 15V3m9 12v4a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H5a2 2 0 0 1-2-2v-4\"\u002F>\u003Cpath d=\"m7 10l5 5l5-5\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Fg>",{"left":4,"top":4,"width":5,"height":5,"rotate":4,"vFlip":6,"hFlip":6,"body":669},"\u003Cg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" stroke-width=\"2\">\u003Cpath d=\"M20 20a2 2 0 0 0 2-2V8a2 2 0 0 0-2-2h-7.9a2 2 0 0 1-1.69-.9L9.6 3.9A2 2 0 0 0 7.93 3H4a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v13a2 2 0 0 0 2 2Zm-8-10v6\"\u002F>\u003Cpath d=\"m15 13l-3 3l-3-3\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Fg>"]