In this Spanish grammar lesson, you will learn when to use the Spanish past perfect subjunctive.
In this lesson you will learn about:
- when to use the Spanish past perfect subjunctive
- how the Spanish past perfect subjunctive is used in sentences in Spanish
- how you can quiz yourself on when to use the Spanish past perfect subjunctive
- how to practice with flashcards on when to use the Spanish past perfect subjunctive
- how and why you should use the courses of Language Atlas to learn Spanish
By the end of the lesson you will know all about when to use the Spanish past perfect subjunctive!
Table of Contents
A Refresher On When To Use The Present Subjunctive
Before we start with when to use the past perfect subjunctive, we should first see when we use the present subjunctive in Spanish.
This will make understanding everything that comes after this a lot easier.
You will use the Spanish present subjunctive when information can fit in any of these categories:
- Emotional statement/comment
- Desire
- Ignorance
- Impersonal opinion
- Uncompleted action
- “Maybe” and “perhaps”
- “Even if”
In a nutshell, in sentences with a subjunctive clause, there is generally an indicative clause that is about emotion, desire, ignorance, or an impersonal opinion related to the action in the subjunctive clause.
When To Use The Spanish Past Perfect Subjunctive: Actions That Took Place Before Other Actions
You will use the Spanish past perfect subjunctive to describe past actions that took place before another past action. The past action in the main clause has an element of doubt.
The main clause will be in the preterite or the imperfect, whereas the subordinate clause is in the past perfect subjunctive.
imperfect + past perfect
Sabía que Paula había llamado.
He knew that Paula had called.
imperfect + past perfect subjunctive
Esperaba que Paula hubiera llamado.
I hoped that Paula had called.
As you can see, in the left example there is no doubt, whereas in the right one there is some doubt. Therefore you will use the subjunctive.
The main clause has the more recent action, whereas the subordinate clause has the older one.
Here is another example with the preterite and the past perfect subjunctive:
preterite + past perfect subjunctive
¿Fue posible que Jaime hubiera hablado?
Was it possible that Jaime had spoken?
When To Use The Spanish Past Perfect Subjunctive: Hypothetical Si Clauses (If Clauses)
You will use the Spanish past perfect subjunctive to talk about hypothetical situations. You will use a si clause to do this.
To express a hypothesis in Spanish you will use:
- [si + past perfect subjunctive] + conditional perfect tense
Have a look at this hypothetical situation in English:
encontrar/comprar
Si hubiera encontrado un millón de euros, habría comprado una isla.
If I had found a million euros, then I would have bought an island.
The first clause of this sentence uses si + past perfect subjunctive (hubiera encontrado), and the second clause uses the conditional perfect tense (habría comprado).
With these kinds of conditional sentences, the condition is seen as something impossible, therefore the action in the main clause is not fulfiled.
Here are some more examples:
preguntar/decir
Si me lo hubieras preguntado, te lo habría dicho.
If you had asked me, I would have told you.
levantarse/volver
Si te hubieras levantado más temprano, ya habrías vuelto de la tienda.
If you had got up earlier, you would have been back from the shop by now.
regar/morir
Si hubieras regado la planta, no se habría muerto.
If you had watered the plant, it would not have died.
escuchar/cometer
Si me hubieras escuchado, no habrías cometido este error.
If you had listened to me, you would not have made this mistake.
ahorrar/poder
Si no hubiéramos ahorrado dinero, ahora no habríamos podido pagar la operación del perro.
If we had not saved money, we would not have been able to pay for the dog’s operation now.
llamar/preparar
Si ustedes hubieran llamado antes, les habríamos preparado la habitación.
If you had called earlier, we would have prepared the room for you.
Example Sentences on When To Use The Spanish Past Perfect Subjunctive Tense
This section of the lesson on when to use the Spanish past perfect subjunctive is about seeing the tense in action.
This is valuable because you can improve your understanding of when to use the Spanish past perfect subjunctive through examples.
imperfect + past perfect
Sabía que Paula había llamado.
He knew that Paula had called.
imperfect + past perfect subjunctive
Esperaba que Paula hubiera llamado.
I hoped that Paula had called.
preterite + past perfect subjunctive
¿Fue posible que Jaime hubiera hablado?
Was it possible that Jaime had spoken?
encontrar/comprar
Si hubiera encontrado un millón de euros, habría comprado una isla.
If I had found a million euros, then I would have bought an island.
preguntar/decir
Si me lo hubieras preguntado, te lo habría dicho.
If you had asked me, I would have told you.
levantarse/volver
Si te hubieras levantado más temprano, ya habrías vuelto de la tienda.
If you had got up earlier, you would have been back from the shop by now.
regar/morir
Si hubieras regado la planta, no se habría muerto.
If you had watered the plant, it would not have died.
escuchar/cometer
Si me hubieras escuchado, no habrías cometido este error.
If you had listened to me, you would not have made this mistake.
ahorrar/poder
Si no hubiéramos ahorrado dinero, ahora no habríamos podido pagar la operación del perro.
If we had not saved money, we would not have been able to pay for the dog’s operation now.
llamar/preparar
Si ustedes hubieran llamado antes, les habríamos preparado la habitación.
If you had called earlier, we would have prepared the room for you.
Quiz Yourself on When To Use The Spanish Past Perfect Subjunctive
At the end of every lesson you can do a small quiz.
You will see the sentences of the previous chapter.
You will either need to fill in the blanks, choose the correct multiple choice option, or both.
Once you are done the correct answer will be shown.
You can redo the quiz as many times as you want!
How to Practice With Flashcards for This Lesson
Using flashcards is an absolute necessity when it comes to learning a language!
It is the best way to memorize what you learn, you can personalize your progression because it adapts to your actions, and all flashcards have audio to improve your hearing and pronunciation.
Please read our article on how to learn a new language for more information on flashcards and the best way to learn a new language.
There are two ways to practice with Flashcards for this lesson.
- Anki
- The Flashcards in our Courses
Anki is a free software with which you can create and practice flashcards.
After you have downloaded Anki for free, you can get our Spanish B2 Anki Deck.
This Anki Deck contains 1,376 flashcards with which you can practice absolutely everything for Spanish B2.
All the flashcards have text, images, explanations, and audio.
You can also use our courses that have flashcards integrated alongside lessons with audio, quizzes and much more!
However, I am sure you are wondering, what are your courses, and why should I take them?
The Courses of Language Atlas
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Using my experience and by doing research I created Language Atlas, a platform where people can learn French and Spanish in the most effective and efficient way.
I created free lessons and quizzes so that there would always be an easy and accessible way for people to learn or brush up on their language skills.
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