Britte

For probably the most part, the Pluperfect Tense is used to state a fact or action that happened before another past action happened.

The Pluperfect Tense

In this Spanish lesson, we shall learn the Pluperfect Tense. Whether you're studying Spanish on-line, with CDs, or Learning Spanish software, you'll find this training useful in your quest to learn just how to speak Spanish.

For probably the most part, the Pluperfect Tense can be used expressing a fact or action that happened before still another past action took place.

In English, this is often expressed in these manner:

When you called I'd thought of you.

Although in English we tend to use the preterite to express two successive steps in the past, in Spanish this really is rarely the case. Alternatively, the Pluperfect Tense can be used.

In Spanish, the aforementioned sentence is interpreted to:

Hey haba pensado en usted cuando llam.

Notice how a auxiliary verb haber (to own) is really a prominent part of this tense, both in Spanish and in English. The past participle is paralleled by the main verb.

Let us have a closer go through the conjugation for the Pluperfect Tense for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs in Spanish.

Trabajar (to work)

Hey haba trabajado (I had worked) nosotros habamos trabajado (we'd worked)

t habas trabajado (you'd worked) ellos haban trabajado (they'd worked)

l haba trabajado (he'd worked) ellas haban trabajado (they'd worked)

ella haba trabajado (she had worked) ustedes haban trabajado (you'd worked)

usted haba trabajado (you had worked)

Notice the way the conjugation for this tense is easily produced by the addition of -a to hab--the auxiliary verb haber's base. The past participle for the principal verb is then included with complete the conjugation.

This conjugation structure is repeated for -er and -ir verbs as well.

Comer (to consume)

yo haba comido (I had eaten) nosotros habamos comido (we had eaten)

t habas comido (you had eaten) ellos haban comido (they'd eaten)

l haba comido (he'd eaten) ellas haban comido (they had eaten)

ella haba comido (she had eaten) ustedes haban comido (you had eaten)

usted haba comido (you had eaten)

Salir (to venture out)

Hey haba salido (I had gone out) nosotros habamos salido (we'd gone out)

t habas salido (you'd gone out) ellos haban salido (they had gone out)

M haba salido (he had gone out) ellas haban salido (they had gone out)

ella haba salido (she'd gone out) ustedes haban salido (you'd gone out) farm�cia

usted haba salido (you'd gone out)

What follows really are a few samples of the PluPerfect Tense in Spanish:

Yo haba salido cuando el telfono child.

if the telephone rang.) (I had gone out

Juan y yo ya habamos cenado cuando Sra. Patricia nos ofreci comida.

(We'd already had dinner when Mrs. Patricia provided us food.)

Mauricio haba hablado con su pap cuando lleg su mam.

(Mauricio had talked to his father when his mother arrived.)

Roberto y Julio haban bebido john antes de llegar a manhunter fiesta.

(Roberto and Julio had drank rum before they arrived at the party.)

Josefina number haba dormido mucho antes de entrarse en el avin.

(Josefina had not slept a lot before she joined the airplane.)

Now lets get one of these few exercises. Change the following in to Spanish. The exercise is followed by the answers.

1. Clara had cleaned the house when her friends appeared.

2. I had practiced my Spanish before I was called by Juan.

3. when the dessert came, We had eaten too much.

4. Paco and Enrique had completed the test if the bell rang.

5. You had altered your dollars to pesos ahead of the bank closed.

6. They'd gone to the beach before it rained.

7. Marisol and I had eaten break fast before we visited college.

8. We'd learned before we traveled to Puerto Rico how exactly to dance salsa.

9. I had met Diego before he got here.

10. Humberto had written to Carmen when he received her letter.

1. Clara haba limpiado manhunter casa cuando llegaron sus amigas.

2. Yo haba practicado mi Espaol antes p Juan llamarme.

3. Habamos comido demasiado cuando lleg el postre.

4. Paco y Enrique haban terminado el examen cuando son manhattan project campana.

5. T habas cambiado tus dlares a antes de cerrar el banco.

6. Ellos haban ido a manhunter playa antes delaware llover.

7. Marisol b hey habamos desayunado antes de ir a manhunter escuela.

8. Habamos aprendido como bailar manhunter salsa antes de viajar a Puerto Rico.

9. Yo haba conocido a antes de venir m aqu.

10. Humberto le haba escrito a cuando recibi su carta.