Pretérito pluscuamperfecto in Spanish
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The pluperfect tense (Spanish: el pretérito pluscuamperfecto) is one of the compound tenses of the past. It is used to talk about what had happened or had been true at a point in the past. The pretérito pluscuamperfecto has two parts:
pretérito pluscuamperfecto = haber (imperfecto) + participio
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Personal pronouns | Auxiliary haber in imperfect |
Yo | había |
Tú | habías |
Él / Ella | había |
Nosotros/-as | habíamos |
Vosotros/-as | habíais |
Ellos / Ellas | habían |
Attention! Note that there are written accent marks on the í of all the imperfect forms of haber.
Verbs in -ar | Verbs in -er | Verbs in -ir |
The verb ending is replaced by -ADO | The verb ending is replaced by -IDO | The verb ending is replaced by -IDO |
hablar → hablado viajar → viajado | comer → comido beber → bebido | vivir → vivido sentir→ sentido |
The complete formation of the pluscuamperfecto is made with the conjugated form of the auxiliary verb haber in the imperfect and the participle form of the verb:
Personal pronoun | Auxiliary haber in imperfect | Participio |
Yo Tu Él/Ella/Usted Nosotros/-as Vosotros/-as Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | había habías había habíamos habíais habían | hablado comido vivido |
There are a few irregular participles in Spanish. Here is a list of the most important exceptions:
Infinitive | Participle |
abrir (to open) | abierto (opened) |
cubrir (to cover) | cubierto (covered) |
decir (to say) | dicho (said) |
devolver (to return /to give back) | devuelto (returned) |
disolver (to dissolve) | disuelto (dissolved) |
escribir (to write) | escrito (written) |
hacer (to do) | hecho (done) |
ir (to go) | ido (gone) |
morir (to die) | muerto (died) |
poner (to put) | puesto (put) |
romper (to break) | roto (broken) |
ser (to be) | sido (been) |
ver (to see) | visto (seen) |
volver (to come back) | vuelto (come) |
The past perfect or pluperfect is another compound tense that is similar in Spanish and English and its use is practically the same in both languages.
These expressions indicated the use of the pluscuamperfecto.
Spanish | English |
---|---|
todavía no | not yet |
aún no | not yet |
ya | already |
nunca | never |
siempre | always (I had always...) |
en mi vida… | in my life |
“José Arcadio Buendía, que era el hombre más emprendedor que había existido en la tierra, había puesto de tal modo la ubicación de las casas, que desde todas podían llegar al río y recolectar agua con igual esfuerzo, y había organizado las calles con tan buen sentido que ninguna casa recibía más sol que otra, a la hora del calor.”
Texto tomado y adaptado del libro “Cien años de soledad” del autor Gabriel García Márquez.
"José Arcadio Buendía, who was the most enterprising man that had existed on earth, had put the location of the houses in such a way that they could reach the river and collect water with the same effort, and had organized the streets with good sense that any house received more sun than another, at the time of heat. "
Retrieved and adapted from “Cien años de soledad” del autor Gabriel García Márquez.
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