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June 21, 2021 by Olga Put Spanish Grammar 0 comments

Master the Past Perfect Tense in Spanish (El Pluscuamperfecto)

The past perfect tense in Spanish is probably the last indicative past tense that you’re learning. If you already have a firm grasp of other past tenses, you should be able to learn this one really quickly!

Whether you want to write in the past perfect tense, use it in conversations, or you just need somebody to explain the past perfect tense once for all, this article is for you. 

This blog post explains the meaning of the name of this tense, how to form it, and when to use it. You’ll see lots of past perfect tense verbs in context and you’ll be able to see how much you’ve learned at the end.

Let’s get started!

What is the Past Perfect Tense in Spanish

The past perfect tense in Spanish is one of the easiest to master. It’s also called the pluperfect and el pretérito pluscuamperfecto in Spanish. 

But what does past perfect tense mean?

It is a “perfect” tense, not because it’s so great but because it talks about events and actions that passed before another action or event. The English language also has perfect tenses—for example, the present perfect tense and the past perfect tense.

past perfect tense in Spanish

An English Review

The past perfect is a compound tense, made up of a helping verb and a main verb. 

For example, in the sentence “I had eaten,” “had” is the helping verb and “eaten” is the main verb.

The helping verb is conjugated according to the subject, while the main verb remains in its past participle form.

What is the past participle form, you ask? It is a conjugated verb used in compound verbs (as in our example above, “had eaten”) or as an adjective (“half-eaten bread”). In English, you form the past participles by adding -ed, -d, -t, or -en to most verbs (such as “tried,” “bought,” and “broken”), which are preceded by a helping verb. Some more examples of past participles (bolded in the following phrases) are:

  • I have studied.
  • We had traveled.
  • I have already caught it. 
  • The phone was stolen.
  • The stolen phone. 

As a brief reminder, the present perfect tense combines the present tense verb “to have” and the main verb in its past participle form. 

Present Perfect: present conjugation of “have” + past participle

Examples:

  • have danced
  • has decided
  • have seen

The past perfect takes the same format, but instead uses the past tense form of “have” (instead of the present).

Past Perfect: past conjugation of “have” + past participle

Examples:

  • had danced
  • had decided
  • had seen

If you’re instead looking for the past perfect subjunctive, read “Master the Past Perfect Subjunctive.”

How to Form the Past Perfect Tense in Spanish

It’s very easy to form the past perfect indicative tense. Simply combine the auxiliary verb haber (to have, do be) in the imperfect form and add a past participle of the action verb.

NOTE! While both haber and tener mean “to have,” in Spanish, the auxiliary verb always translates to haber and never tener. (To clarify, tener always refers to having physical or abstract things, while haber most often takes the role of an auxiliary or helping verb.) 

The past participles in Spanish are slightly more complicated than in English, but they aren’t too hard to master. The rules for forming the participio pasado are as follows:

For -AR verbs, add -ado. (hablado, jugado, enviado)

For -ER and -IR verbs, add -ido. (comido, ido, vivido)

Past Perfect Tense in Spanish Formula:

Subject + Haber in the imperfect + past participle of the main verb 

Yo había guardado los libros antes de la comida.
I had put the books away before lunch.

Conjugation Chart of the Auxiliary verb haber in the Imperfect Tense

Let’s have a quick reminder of how to conjugate the auxiliary verb haber in the imperfect tense.

SPANISHENGLISH
Yo habíaI had
Tú habíasYou had
Él, ella, usted habíaShe, he, it had (fml. You had)
Nosotros habíamosWe had
Ustedes habíanYou had
Ellos, ellas habíanThey had

Now that you know how to conjugate haber and you have the “had” part, all that is left is to add the past participle form of the main verb.

How to Create Past Participle Forms

These -ido and -ado endings for past perfect tense in Spanish are the past participle forms of verbs. You might remember from the present perfect tense how to create the past participle forms that you also need now. If not, I’ll cover it quickly here. 

The past participle forms in Spanish of regular -ar verbs end in -ado, and in -ido for regular -er and -ir verbs. All you need to do is to take off the infinitive ending -ar, -er, and -ir and add the corresponding -ado or -ido past participle ending. Let’s some examples:

Amar (to love) – amado (loved)

Vivir (to love) – vivido (lived)

Comer (to eat) – comido (eaten)

Yo la había amado pero ella me dejó.
I had loved her but she left me.

En aquella casa habíamos vivido antes de mudarnos al departamento.
We had lived in that house before moving into the apartment.

Ya habíamos comido y mi abuela nos sirvió más.
We had already eaten and my grandmother served us more.

That’s easy. Now, let’s see some possible irregularities in the past participle forms that you need to make sentences in past perfect Spanish.

past perfect tense in Spanish

Accented Past Participle Forms

Some -er and -ir verbs whose stem (the part left after removing the infinitive ending) ends in a vowel have an accent mark over the letter i in the past participle -ido ending.

Examples of Some Verbs With Accented Past Participle Endings.
SPANISH ENGLISH 
atraer – atraídoto attract – attracted
caer – caídoto fall – fallen
creer – creídoto believe – believed
leer – leídoto read – read
oír – oídoto hear – heard
poseer – poseídoto possess – possessed
reír – reído to laugh – laughed
sonreír – sonreídoto smile – smiled
traer – traídoto bring – brought

Lo miró, pero ya había caído demasiado abajo para verlo.
He looked at it, but it had already fallen too low to see it.

Antes de casarse con él, ella ya había poseído una gran fortuna.
Before marrying him, she had already possessed a great fortune.

Siempre se había reído de mí y mira lo que le pasó.
He had always laughed at me and look at what happened to him.

Irregular Past Participle Forms

There are some past participle irregulars that don’t follow rules of any kind and you need to learn them by heart to use them correctly in the past perfect tense form. You probably already know most of them by studying the present perfect tense formation.

Past Participle Irregulars Chart
SPANISH ENGLISH 
abrir – abiertoto open – opened
absolver – absueltoto absolve – absolved
cubrir – cubiertoto cover – covered
decir – dichoto say – said
escribir – escritoto write – written
hacer – hechoto do – done
morir – muertoto die – died
poner – puestoto put – put
resolver – resueltoto solve – solved
romper – rototo break – broken
satisfacer – satisfechoto satisfy – satisfied
ver – vistoto see – seen
volver – vueltoto return – returned

Pensé que ya había resuelto el problema pero no.
I thought I had solved the problem but no.

No había visto nada así hasta que se mudó a Europa.
He hadn’t seen anything like it until he moved to Europe.

Pidió perdón porque me había hecho daño.
She asked for forgiveness because she had hurt me.

Object Pronouns Placement With the Past Perfect Tense Verbs

The auxiliary verb haber and the main verb in the past participle are never separated. That’s why if you need to add any object pronouns they will always go before the verb haber. 

For example, you cannot say “ya había lo visto antes.” (incorrect)

The correct form is: ya lo había visto antes (I had seen it before).

Lo busqué pero alguien ya se lo había llevado.
I looked for it but someone had already taken it away.

Nunca la había visto antes de aquella noche.
I had never seen her before that night.

past perfect tense in Spanish

When to Use the Past Perfect Participle in Spanish

As I mentioned earlier, the past perfect or pluperfect in Spanish refers to an action that took place before another past action.

Ella había llegado antes que sus padres. 
She had arrived before her parents.

NOTE: Her parents arrived at some point in the past but she had arrived even earlier, hence you have to put it in the past perfect tense.

Let’s see more examples before you take the quiz below!

Ya te habías ido de la fiesta cuando yo llegué.
You had already left when I arrived.

¡Habías visto la película antes que yo!
You had seen the movie before me!

Corrimos hacia la puerta del embarque pero el avión ya había despegado.
We ran to the gate but the plane had already taken off.

Ella había preparado todo antes de la ceremonia de la mañana.
She had prepared everything before the morning ceremony.

Ya se habían hecho muy amigas cuando llegó la hora de ir a casa.
They had already become very good friends when it was time to go home.

Congratulations! I think you’re ready to see how much you know.

The Past Perfect Tense in Spanish – Multiple Choice Quiz

Quiz CTA

Now, the moment has come. Try this multiple-choice quiz on the past perfect tense in Spanish to feel proud of yourself! Remember, there’s only one correct answer for each question.

1. Nosotros nunca ________________ ayuda económica antes del 2019. (We had never asked for financial aid before 2019.)

Correct! Wrong!

2. Ya ________________ antes de nuestro encuentro en la Ciudad de México. (I had already seen her before our meeting in Mexico City.

Correct! Wrong!

3. Ya lo ________________ hecho antes de que yo naciera. (You had already done it before I was born.)

Correct! Wrong!

4. Nosotros ________________ bebido demasiada coca cola y por eso nos dolió la panza a todos. (We had drunk too much coca cola and that’s why our stomach hurt.)

Correct! Wrong!

5. Nadie ________________ y de todas formas le preguntaron a mi hermano. (Nobody had believed me and they asked my brother anyway.)

Correct! Wrong!

6. ________________ salido demasiado temprano y no vieron la emocionante final. (They had left too early and did not see the exciting finale.)

Correct! Wrong!

7. ¡Yo no ________________! ¡Se cayó solo! (I hadn’t broken it! It fell by itself!)

Correct! Wrong!

8. ________________ muy guapo pero la princesa ni lo miró. (He had become very handsome but the princess did not even look at him.)

Correct! Wrong!

9. Esa tienda ________________ antes del 1955. (That store had been opened before 1955.)

Correct! Wrong!

10. Su mama ________________ de toda la culpa pero él nunca se perdonó. (His mother had absolved him of all guilt but he never forgave himself.)

Correct! Wrong!

The Past Perfect Tense in Spanish Quiz
Wow, you've mastered the past perfect tense in Spanish!

Congrats! You're a pro

You've got a solid understanding of how to use the past perfect tense in Spanish and the quality of your Spanish conversations are exploding through the roof!
You've almost mastered the past perfect tense in Spanish. Your consistent practice is leading to better results!

you're getting better

As you keep up your hard work and practice, you're starting to understand better how to use the past perfect tense in Spanish. For more study materials, keep up-to-date with our newest published blog posts at Homeschool Spanish Academy. *YOU'RE ALMOST THERE! You can do it!* Do you prefer learning with videos? Check out our YouTube channel Spanish Academy TV for the best Spanish learning content on the web!
Practice makes perfect! Keep on studying!

Keep on studying

Your motivation to learn Spanish is an essential ingredient to success! If you're ready to take your Spanish to the next level and master the past perfect tense in Spanish, then join us for a free Spanish class with one of our friendly, certified, native Spanish-speaking teachers from Guatemala. Sign up today!

Practice Time

How does it feel to be a master of the past perfect tense in Spanish? Great, doesn’t it? Do you want to practice it now in live conversation? Sign up for a free class, in a 1-on-1, student-tailored environment with professional, native Spanish-speaking teachers from Guatemala. Remember, that to be considered fluent, you need to be able to use what you know.

Don’t wait any longer. Just imagine how great it will be to travel to Latin America or to Spain and be able to communicate without a google translator!

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Ready to learn more Spanish grammar? Check these out!

  • 50 Useful Spanish Transition Words for Everyday Speech and Writing
  • Master the 18 Spanish Tenses (and Take Our Cheat Sheet With You)
  • All About Adverbial Clauses in Spanish
  • The Ultimate Guide to the Differences Between ‘Pero’ and ‘Sino’ in Spanish
  • A Guide to Double Negatives in Spanish
  • Ver Conjugation: Free Spanish Lesson, Exercises, and PDF
  • Common Irregular Informal Commands in Spanish
  • Dialect vs Accent: Is It a Language, Dialect, or Accent?
  • Author
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Olga Put
Olga Put
Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy
I'm a Spanish philologist, teacher, and freelance writer with a Master's degree in Humanities from Madrid. I speak Polish, Spanish, and English fluently, and want to get better in Portuguese and German. A lover of literature, and Mexican spicy cuisine, I've lived in Poland, Spain, and Mexico and I'm currently living and teaching in Madeira, Portugal.
Olga Put
Latest posts by Olga Put (see all)
  • All About Adverbial Clauses in Spanish - January 8, 2025
  • The Ultimate Guide to the Differences Between ‘Pero’ and ‘Sino’ in Spanish - December 26, 2024
  • Common Irregular Informal Commands in Spanish - November 29, 2024
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