8 El Pluscuamperfecto / The Past Perfect Tense (Había amado)
El Pluscuamperfecto / The Past Perfect Tense (Había amado)
The Past Perfect Tense is used to talk about actions in the past. It is used in sentences such as “I had gone swimming” and “we had been at the beach”. It is made up of the verb haber and a past participle, like the Present Perfect Tense. However, in the Past Perfect, haber is conjugated in the Imperfect, as the following table shows.
| Personal Pronoun | Haber |
| Yo | había |
| Tú | habías |
| Él/Ella/Usted | había |
| Nosotros/Nosotras | habíamos |
| Vosotros/Vosotras | habíais |
| Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes | habían |
The past participles are the same as they are in the Present Perfect. The following table shows how to form past participles.
|
hablar
|
comer
|
vivir
|
|
habl-
|
com-
|
viv-
|
|
hablado
|
comido
|
vivido
|
The following are some of the most important irregular past participles to remember.
|
abrir
|
abierto
|
opened
|
caer
|
caído
|
fallen
|
|
cubrir
|
cubierto
|
covered
|
decir
|
dicho
|
said
|
|
escribir
|
escrito
|
written
|
hacer
|
hecho
|
done
|
|
leer
|
leído
|
read
|
morir
|
muerto
|
dead
|
|
poner
|
puesto
|
put
|
romper
|
roto
|
broken
|
|
ver
|
visto
|
seen
|
volver
|
vuelto
|
returned
|
Reflexive Verbs and the Past Perfect Tense
In the Past Perfect, the reflexive pronoun (se) goes before haber as a separate word. It cannot go after the past participle. The following table shows the reflexive verb lavarse (to wash oneself) in the Past Perfect.
|
Person
|
lavarse
|
English
|
|
Yo
|
Me había lavado
|
I had washed myself
|
|
Tú
|
Te habías lavado
|
You had washed yourself
|
|
Él/Ella/Usted
|
Se había lavado
|
He had washed himself
She had washed herself You had washed yourself |
|
Nosotros/Nosotras
|
Nos habíamos lavado
|
We had washed ourselves
|
|
Vosotros/Vosotras
|
Os habíais lavado
|
You (all) had washed yourselves
|
|
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes
|
Se habían lavado
|
They had washed themselves
You (all) had washed yourselves |
