Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Verb Tenses, Second ... - Ktooba.com

The pluperfect
subjunctive
MOOD Pluperfect subjunctive
TIME Refers to the relatively remote past
KEY PHRASES “Had” past participle
STRUCTURE Compound tense: haber conjugated in the imperfect subjunctive
past participle
As its name implies, the pluperfect subjunctive (also referred to as the past perfect
subjunctive) refers to action in the time frame of the pluperfect (“Mary had spoken”),
and in a situation that requires the subjunctive (“I hoped that Mary had
spoken” (before she left )). With an understanding of the general time frame of
the pluperfect—completed action before another action occurred—and the situations
in which the subjunctive is used, you will know when to use the pluperfect
subjunctive.
PLUPERFECT INDICATIVE Yo sabía que María había hablado.
I knew that Mary had spoken.
PLUPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE Yo esperaba que María hubiera hablado.
I hoped that Mary had spoken.
Formation of the pluperfect subjunctive
Th e pluperfect subjunctive is a compound tense, which means that an auxiliary is
required before the main verb. Th e auxiliary verb haber is conjugated in the imperfect
subjunctive and followed by the past participle of the main verb.
hubiera past participle hubiéramos past participle
hubieras past participle hubierais past participle
hubiera past participle hubieran past participle
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