Spanish Pluperfect - Spanish Past Perfect - Pluscuamperfecto

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Pretérito perfecto / Pretérito anterior - Spanish Preterite Perfect / Past Anterior

The Spanish preterite perfect or past anterior is used to indicate an action in the past that occurred just before another action in the past.

The preterite perfect is very rare in spoken Spanish - it is found almost exclusively in formal writing such as literature. It can only be used after expressions like apenas, cuando, después de que, and tan pronto como, that mean "when" or "as soon as." Its non-literary equivalents are the preterite and pluperfect.

Cuando hubo salido, empecé a llorar.	When he had left, I began to cry.
Despues de que hubimos comido, fuimos a la tienda.	After we ate, we went to the store.
Apenas hube terminado cuando él llegó.	I had hardly / just finished when he arrived.

Conjugating the Spanish Preterite Perfect

The preterite perfect is a compound verb formed with the preterite of the auxiliary verb haber + the past participle of the main verb.

HABLAR
yo	hube hablado	nosotros	hubimos hablado
tú	hubiste hablado	vosotros	hubisteis hablado
él ella Ud.	hubo hablado	ellos ellas Uds.	hubieron hablado

SALIR
yo	hube salido	nosotros	hubimos salido
tú	hubiste salido	vosotros	hubisteis salido
él ella Ud.	hubo salido	ellos ellas Uds.	hubieron salido

Compound Tenses Spanish Verb Lessons

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