Past Perfect For Intermediate learners

What is the Past Perfect Tense?

The past perfect (pretérito pluscuamperfecto) expresses an action completed before another past action. It shows sequence in the past: what had happened before something else occurred.

Structure

The Spanish past perfect tense is formed using the imperfect conjugation of the verb "haber" based on the subject, followed by the past participle form of the main verb which is invariable for different persons and numbers:

haber (imperfect) + past participle (fixed)

Conjugation of "Haber"

"Haber" follows the regular imperfect conjugation pattern:

yo	había
tú	habías
él / ella / usted	había
nosotros/as	habíamos
vosotros/as	habíais
ellos / ellas / ustedes	habían

Formation of Past Participles

Formation of past participles differs based on the ending of the infinitive form of the verb:

For verbs that end in -ar → replace -ar with -ado: hablar → hablado

For verbs that end in -er/-ir → replace -ir with -ido: comer → comido, vivir → vivido

However, there are some irregular verbs that do not follow the normal pattern for forming past participles. For example:

Ver → visto

Poner → puesto

Ser → sido

Hacer → hecho

Abrir → abierto

Escribir → escrito

Ir → ido

Volver → vuelto

Leer → leído

Here are some example sentences:

Example

Había hablado.

I had spoken.

Habías comido.

You had eaten.

Habíamos vivido allí.

We had lived there.

Negation

To form negative sentences in the present perfect, the negative marker "no" is added before the verb "haber" or before the object pronoun if it is used before the conjugated "haber". For example:

Example

No había probado sushi antes.

I had not tried sushi before.

No lo había terminado cuando llegaste.

I had not finished it when you arrived.

Uses

The past perfect is used to talk about:

Action completed before another past action:

Example

Cuando llegué, ella ya había salido.

When I arrived, she had already left.

Ya había comido cuando me llamaste.

I had already eaten when you called.

Reported speech or indirect narration:

Example

Dijo que nunca había estado en París.

He/She said he had never been to Paris.

Me contó que había perdido las llaves.

He/She told me she had lost her keys.

Describing cause or background for another past event:

Example

Estaba cansado porque no había dormido bien.

She/He was tired because he hadn't slept well.

No entendí la película porque no había leído el libro.

I didn't understand the movie because I hadn't read the book.

Tip!

When the past perfect is used to show a sequence of two actions, the action closer to the present is usually expressed using the past simple or the imperfect while the action that happened before it uses the past perfect. Look at the example: