Identify

• Compound verb tenses with the verb [HABER].
• Expresses what has already happened before another action.

Connect

• LEAF Spanish Grammar: The Perfect Tenses – Basics

60-Second Spanish Grammar Lesson

• Coming Soon!

Study

The past perfect (pluperfect) behaves a lot like the present perfect. Both are compound tenses that use the helping verb HABER.

However, the pluperfect uses the imperfect (past) tense of HABER with the past participle to discuss a past action that already happened before another previous past action.

Yo había aprendido español antes de venir a México.
I had learned Spanish before coming to Mexico.

Él había terminado sus estudios antes de comenzar su nuevo empleo.
He had finished his studies before starting his new employment (job).

Remember that direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns, or reflexive pronouns are placed in FRONT of the conjugated verb HABER.

No me lo había dicho antes.
He did not tell it to me before.

Él la había hecho, la reservación, está mañana.
He had made it, the reservation, this morning.

Adapt

Nosotros no habíamos escrito las cartas.
We had not written the letters.

Ellos ya no habían hecho la cena cuando ella vino.
They had not made dinner yet when the family arrived.

El carro había roto antes de llegar a la puente.
The car had broken down before reaching the bridge.

No hemos vuelto del mercado todavía.
We had not yet returned from the market.

Engage

• LEAF Spanish Verb Conjugation Chart: [-AR] Verb Endings
• LEAF Spanish Verb Conjugation Chart: [-ER] Verb Endings
• LEAF Spanish Verb Conjugation Chart: [-IR] Verb Endings

Explore

• YouTube/MaestroKaplan: Past Perfect, Pluperfect, Pluscuamperfecto
• YouTube/SpanishDict: El Pluscuamperfecto
• YouTube/MrLearnSpanish: Past Perfect

Quizlet Activity

• Coming Soon!