C HAPTER 14

Perfect Compound Tenses

SPANISH TENSES MAY BE DIVIDED into two groups: simple tenses and compound tenses. Simple tenses are verb forms made up of one word—comprendió (he understood), hablaba (she was talking), cantarán (they will sing). Compound tenses are formed with two words—the auxiliary verb that is conjugated to agree with the subject, plus another verb.

You already encountered compound tenses in some of the earlier chapters. Progressive tenses, which use estar as the auxiliary verb and the present participle, are used to refer to actions that are happening at a particular time. The perfect tenses make up another important group of compound tenses. Perfect compound tenses describe an action that takes place over time, and it is formed with a conjugated form of haber and a past participle.

Haber and Past Participle

Haber is the equivalent of “to have” as used in perfect tenses (not in the sense of owning something); for example, haber sido is translated as “to have been.” You’re already familiar with some forms of haber because haber is the verb used in the expression “there is/are.”

hay	there is/are
hubo	there was/were (preterite)
había	there was/were (imperfect)
habrá	there will be
habría	there would be
haya	there may be (subjunctive)
hubiera	there may have been (past subjunctive)

In compound tenses, haber is conjugated to agree in number and person with the subject; the participle form always remains the same.

ESSENTIAL

In Spanish, an adverb cannot be inserted between the auxiliary verb and the main verb. This rule also applies to the compound tenses: Efectivamente lo he perdido. (I have really lost it.)

The Past Participle

We’ve covered past participles in Chapter 9, but let’s do a quick review. To form a past participle, choose one of two different endings:

verb group	past participle ending	example
–ar verbs	–ado	hablado (spoken)
–er verbs	–ido	perdido (lost)
–ir verbs	–ido	vivido (lived)

Only a handful of verbs have irregular past participle forms:

abrir	abierto	opened
cubrir	cubierto	covered
decir	dicho	said
escribir	escrito	written
hacer	hecho	done
ir	ido	gone
morir	muerto	died
poner	puesto	put
romper	roto	broken
ser	sido	been
ver	visto	seen
volver	vuelto	returned

Present Perfect

The most common perfect tense is the the present perfect. It’s called “present” because it uses the present-tense form of the auxiliary verb haber. You are familiar with the English version of this tense—the compound made up of the present form of the verb “to have” and the past participle: “I have done,” “she has taken,” “they have finished.” In English, we use this tense to talk about actions that were done in the recent past and may continue into the present. The same is true for the Spanish equivalent of this tense, el perfecto de indicativo .

To form the present perfect, use the present-tense form of the verb haber :

he	hemos
has	habéis
ha	han

Le he escrito una carta a Patricio.

I have written a letter to Patricio.

Ellos han preparado una cena para los invitados.

They have prepared a dinner for the guests.

Nosotros nos hemos quejado del mal tiempo.

We have been complaining about the bad weather.

Past-Tense Forms

Since Spanish has two past tenses, preterite and imperfect, it’s no surprise that there are also two past perfect compound tenses: past perfect or pluperfect (pluscuamperfecto) and preterite perfect (pretérito anterior o perfecto).

Past Perfect: A Past Before the Past

Past perfect tense is used to describe an action that occurred before another past-tense action. In English, the past perfect tense uses the past tense of the verb “to have” plus the participle: “I had done,” “she had taken,” “they had finished.” In Spanish, the imperfect form of the verb haber is used. Here’s a review of the past-perfect conjugations of haber:

había	habíamos
habías	habíais
había	habían

Yo me había levantado antes que ellos me llamaran.

I had gotten up before they called me.

Nosotros habíamos acabado con nuestra cena cuando ella llegó.

We had finished our dinner with she arrived.

Ellos se habían casado antes de que yo los conociera.

They had gotten married before I met them.

Preterite Perfect

The preterite perfect is used much less frequently than the past perfect; generally, you might encounter this tense in literary works (hence it’s sometimes known as the literary past tense). The preterite perfect is similar to past perfect, because it refers to actions that had occurred before other actions that took place in the past. However, in the case of the preterite perfect, the action had to have happened just prior to the main event. This is why preterite perfect is generally accompanied by words like apenas (scarcely), en cuanto (as soon as), and cuando (when).

The preterite perfect uses preterite conjugations of the verb haber as the auxiliary verb. Here are the conjugations:

hube	hubimos
hubiste	hubisteis
hubo	hubieron

Apenas hube terminado de vestirme cuando ellos llegaron.

I had barely finished getting dressed when they arrived.

En cuanto hubieron llegado a casa, el teléfono empezó a sonar.

As soon as they had gotten home, the phone began to ring.

Future and Conditional

The last two pefect tenses in the indicative mood are the future perfect (futuro perfecto) and conditional perfect (potencial com-puesto). Both forms are fairly straightforward: Use the future perfect to talk about actions that “will have happened” and the conditional perfect to talk about “what would have happened.”

Future Perfect

The future perfect uses the future tense conjugations of haber . This compound tense may be used to discuss an event or action that will have happened before another event or action (or before a particular point) in the future.

FACT

The future tense may be used to talk about uncertain events taking place in the present and the conditional tense may apply to uncertain events that took place in the past. The same applies to future perfect and conditional perfect. For example, yo habré dicho may mean “I will have said” or “I might have said,” depending on context. Similarly, yo habría dicho may mean “I would have said” or “I possibly had said.”

Here are the future-tense conjugations of haber, followed by a few examples:

habré	habremos
habrás	habréis
habrá	habrán

Yo habré terminado el ensayo mañana.

I will have finished the essay by tomorrow.

Ustedes habrán limpiado la mesa antes de salir.

You will have cleaned the table before leaving.

Conditional Perfect

The conditional perfect is used to describe actions that didn’t actually take place, but would have, pending a particular condition. Here are the conditional-tense conjugations of the verb haber:

habría	habríamos
habrías	habríais
habría	habrían

Si me lo preguntara, yo le habría contestado.

If she had asked me, I would have answered her.

Usted no lo habría hecho, ¿verdad?

You wouldn’t have done it, right?

ALERT

Object pronouns always precede the compound verb: Yo le he dicho a ellos que pueden venir a las siete. (I have told them that they can come over at seven.) Ellos lo han hecho ya. (They have done it already.)

In the Subjunctive

The subjunctive mood also offers two perfect tenses: the present perfect and past perfect. Generally, the rules for using subjunctive in the perfect compound tenses is the same as in the simple tenses.

Present Perfect Subjunctive

Choosing between indicative and subjunctive mood is the same in the present perfect as it is in the present. Use the subjunctive present perfect when the statement expresses opinion, feeling, or attitude, rather than describing real situations. Here are the present-perfect conjugations of haber:

haya	hayamos
hayas	hayáis
haya	hayan

Espero que hayas escrito la carta.

I hope you have written the letter.

Necesito hablar con alguien que haya visitado Madrid.

I need to speak with someone who has visited Madrid.

Past Perfect Subjunctive

Similarly, the past perfect subjunctive is used when the main verb of the sentence is in preterite, imperfect, or conditional tense. Here are the past perfect subjunctive conjugations of haber:

hubiera	hubiéramos
hubieras	hubierais
hubiera	hubieran

No era cierto que Ramiro y Martín hubieran estado allá.

It wasn’t certain that Ramiro and Martin had been there.

Si ellos hubieran estado allá, yo se lo diría a ellos.

If they had been there, I would have told it to them.

Practice Makes Perfect

Fill in the right past participles and translate the sentences into English:

1. Tú has ___________________ (acabar) con la cena.

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2. Tú habrás ___________________ (ver) la película antes de la clase mañana.

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3. Vosotros vos habíais ___________________ (levantar) antes que yo llegué aquí.

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4. Yo habría ___________________ (decir) la verdad si me hubieran (preguntar).

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5. Hemos ___________________ (escribir) un ensayo juntos.

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6. No era cierto que tú hubieras ___________________ (ir) por allá.

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7. Ellos habían ___________________ (terminar) sus estudios cuando se apagó la luz.

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8. Todos esperan que yo haya ___________________ (hacer) el trabajo por mí mismo.

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9. He ___________________ (poner) la mochila debajo del escritorio.

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10. Ellos han ___________________ (ser) estudiantes por muchos años.

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To check your answers, refer to the answer key in Appendix D.