The pluperfect (called pretérito pluscuamperfecto de indicativ o in Spanish) is a tense that is used to talk about what had happened or had been true at a point in the past, before another past point. The Spanish Past Perfect, also known as The Pluperfect is a tense used to indicate an action in the past that occurred before another action in the past.

But, it is a good tense to practice as you level up your Spanish. It is also formed using the pluperfect form of the verb ‘haber’ (había, habías, había, habíamos, habían, habían) and pluperfect n noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc. As in English, the pluperfect is used to describe the past before the past. The past perfect (or pluperfect) tense The past perfect is formed with had (past of have ) + the past participle. So what’s the difference between the pluperfect and preterit tenses? You need to use the past perfect tense for the translation in Spanish. The past participle of regular -ar verbs ends in -ado, while that of regular -er and -ir verbs ends in -ido. 8.13 TALKING ABOUT THE PAST: The Pluperfect. The Spanish pluperfect tense is formed using the imperfect tense of haber and a past particple. The differences center less on conceptual distinctions and more on the contexts in which they’re used: Pluperfect: The pluperfect is conversational and is used in everyday speech to describe a past […] Spanish Verb Conjugation: yo hubiera tenido, tú hubieras tenido, él / Ud.… Known in Spanish as the pluscuamperfecto, the pluperfect (or past perfect), is the equivalent of the form “had + participle” in English. Spanish has two past perfect verb tenses: the pluperfect and the preterit perfect. These examples come from the Spanish in Texas project, which profiles Spanish as it is spoken throughout Texas today. Present, past, and preterite perfect tenses are formed by using a conjugated form of haber with the past participle.

It is composed of the auxiliary verb (also know as helping verb) haber conjugated in the imperfect tense, and followed by the participle. The Spanish pluperfect tense describes a past action that happened before another past action.

The pluperfect and preterit tenses in Spanish have identical translations in English. Examples in English are: "we had arrived"; "they had written".. Here’s a hint from English. Whenever an idea looks as follows: Something had happened prior to something else. The past participle of regular -ar verbs ends in -ado, while that of regular -er and -ir verbs ends in -ido. Therefore, the pluperfect tense takes the imperfect tense form of the verb "haber" and adds the past participle.
Go figure!

These verb tenses use the imperfect and preterit conjugations of haber (to have) followed by a past participle. Choose from 500 different sets of pluperfect tense spanish flashcards on Quizlet. See Spanish-English translations with audio pronunciations, examples, and word-by-word explanations.


Pluperfect: The pluperfect is conversational and is used in everyday speech to describe a past action that happened prior to another past action. Pluperfect Subjunctive Conjugation of tener – Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo de tener. Translate Pluperfect tense. You have already learned in a previous lesson that the past participle is formed by dropping the infinitive ending and adding either -ado or -ido. Spanish Verbs.