Anoche cuando llegué a casa alguien ya había cerrado las ventanas.
Last night when I got home someone had already closed the windows.
Past → I got home
Before the past → had already closed the windows
Table of Contents
How is the past perfect formed in Spanish?
The past perfect is formed using haber as an auxiliary in the imperfect tense and the past participle of the main verb. Regular participles end in -ado, -ido, irregular ones end in -to or -cho. Click the link for a list of Spanish past participles.
Let’s go over some examples while reviewing the conjugation of haber in the imperfect tense.
| Subject | haber in the imperfect | Verb in past participle + complement | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | había | leído ese libro. ↳leer | I had read that book. |
| Tú | habías | escrito esa historia. ↳escribir | You had written that story. |
| Él / ella / usted | había | viajado a esa ciudad. ↳viajar | He/she/ you (formal) had traveled to this city. |
| Nosotros / nosotras | habíamos | comido temprano. ↳comer | We had eaten early. |
| Ustedes | habían | hecho un pastel. ↳hacer | You had made a cake. |
| Vosotros / vosotras | habíais | limpiado antes de la fiesta. ↳limpiar | You had cleaned before the party. |
| Ellos / ellas | habían | caminado a la escuela. ↳caminar | They had walked to school. |
How to use the past perfect in Spanish?
The past perfect is mainly used in reference to another event. It can be thought of as the “past of the past” meaning that the past perfect makes reference to an event that happened previous to another event in the past. This other event can be:
- explicit in another clause:
Estos aretes eran de mi mamá, pero antes le habían pertenecido a mi abuela.
These earrings were my mother’s, but before they had belonged to my grandmother.
The tense in the main clause can be in the preterite tense, the imperfect tense, or the present perfect tense.
- understood from context:
El banco ya había cerrado (cuando llegué).
The bank had already closed (when I arrived).
- paired with a time expression or an adverb that will indicate the time reference:
Ayer, a estas horas, ya me había dormido.
Yesterday, around this time, I had already fallen asleep.
Some of these expressions are ya (already), aún/todavía (still), nunca (never), antes/previamente (before/previously). For more examples, check out this list of common expressions used with past perfect in Spanish!
⤷TIP The past perfect is commonly found preceded by the adverb ya (already) to emphasize the “completeness” of the event.
When the past perfect is used in the negative, it indicates that an event hasn’t happened prior to another event in the past.
Cuando me desperté, todavía no había salido el sol.
When I woke up, the sun had not yet come out.
When to use the past perfect in Spanish?
Now that we know how to use it in terms of time reference, let’s see what you can express using the past perfect tense.
The past perfect in relation to the past
- To talk about the sequence of two events in the past
When there is a sequence of two events or actions in the past and one describes something that occurred before another, the one that occurred first is expressed using the past perfect tense. For example,
Action 1 Action 2 We had already planned the wedding when we got engaged. |
Planeamos la boda en 2019 y nos comprometimos en 2020. We planned the wedding in 2019 and we got engaged in 2020. |
It’s common to find the past perfect paired with a clause starting with “antes de (que)…” (before). In such cases, antes de (que) is followed by an infinitive or by the imperfect subjunctive.
- If the subjects of the clauses are the same, use the infinitive:
| Antes de llegar, había pasado a comprar un pastel en el camino. ⤷ yo = yo ⤶ Before arriving I had stopped to buy a cake on my way. |
- If the subjects are different, then use antes de que + a verb in the imperfect subjunctive:
| Antes de que llegaran, (yo) había preparado un pastel. ⤷ ellos ≠ yo ⤶ Before they arrived, I had baked a cake. |
- To talk about results or consequences in the past.
The past perfect is used to explain the reasons for a past action that ended in a certain result or consequence.
- For reported speech related to the past
To report what someone else has said in the past, you can use the past perfect if the original verb in the direct speech is in the preterite or present perfect.
| Direct speech | Ya salí de casa. I already left the house. ↓ | Ya he comido en este café. I have already eaten in this cafe. ↓ |
| Indirect speech |
Dijo que ya había salido de su casa. He said that he had already left his house. | Dijo que ya había comido en este café. She said she had already eaten in this cafe. |
To learn more about reported speech in Spanish, follow the link!
- To express uncertainty
To express uncertainty in the recent past, you can use the past perfect instead of present perfect.
–¿Has visto mis lentes? Have you seen my glasses?
–Los había visto por aquí, pero no estoy seguro.
–I had seen them around here, but I’m not sure.
-
The past perfect in relation to the present
The past perfect is used in association to the present moment to indicate that something happened before now. It’s used in the following cases:
- To express surprise
¿Que qué hago aquí? ¡Me habías dicho que viniera!
What am I doing here? You asked me to come!
¿Cómo que la reunión es a las 4? ¡Había anotado que era a las 5!
What do you mean the meeting is at 4? I had written down that it was at 5!
- To talk about first experiences using a negative expression
Nunca había experimentado algo así.
I had never experienced anything like this before.
In the example, it is implicit that I had not had a similar experience “before now.”
- To express politeness
The past perfect can be used to show courtesy or sound more polite instead of the present perfect.
Disculpe señora, ¿me ha pedido la cuenta?
⇣
Disculpe señora, ¿me había pedido la cuenta?
Excuse me ma’am, did you ask for the bill?
⤷ TIP You can use the past perfect instead of the present perfect or preterite to verify politely if certain information is true; this is especially useful when requests have been made.
¿Has pedido/ pediste servicio al cuarto?
Summary
The past perfect is a compound tense that requires the auxiliary verb haber (have) in the imperfect tense and a past participle. It is used:
- to talk about a past event that happened before another event in the past (preterite, the imperfect, and the present perfect).
- to talk about results or consequences in the past.
- to express surprise, uncertainty, and politeness in reference to the present.
- with words such as ya (already), todavía no (not yet), nunca (never) as time references.
Ready to practice? Find an activity for the different uses of the past perfect here.
