Herramientas de la lengua
Subjuntivo: Tiempos compuestos
Why do you want to know this?
Using compound verb tenses helps us express nuance regarding actions that have taken place in different times. While it is challenging to use compound tenses, they enhance our communication and make our speech more sophisticated, so they are worth the effort!
1. Los tiempos compuestos
What are they?
Compound verb tenses use two verbs (an auxiliary and the verb). In English the auxiliary is “to have” and in Spanish it is “haber”
I have eaten – Yo he comido
I had danced – Yo había bailado
What are they called?
We will look at six: present perfect, future perfect, pluperfect, conditional perfect, present perfect subjunctive, pluperfect subjunctive. If you learned Spanish at home chances are you already use some of them without knowing what they are called. If you learned Spanish in a classroom setting, you will probably remember learning them.
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2. El verbo “haber” como auxiliar
To construct our perfect tenses we need to be comfortable conjugating our auxiliary verb “haber” in six simple tenses: present, future, imperfect, conditional, present subjunctive and imperfect subjunctive
Present, future and imperfect
Conditional, Present subjunctive, imperfect subjunctive
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3. El pasado participio para formar los tiempos perfectos
Just like in English, perfect tenses are formed by two verbs. The first one is “haber” and the second one is in a form called the past participle. In English they are the verbs that end in “ed” for example:
I have painted
She has danced
We had played
Sometimes in English there are irregular past participles like:
I have drawn
She has eaten
We had spent
They had understood
The past participle in Spanish
In Spanish the past participle are the verbs that end in “ido” and “ado”
Yo he comido
Ella ha bailado
Nosotros hemos cantado
Sometimes there are irregular ones, and we should remember them!
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4. El presente perfecto
The present perfect in English would be when we say:
John has eaten already
I have painted many landscapes
The form the present perfect in Spanish we take the verb “haber” in the present and then add the past participle:
John ha comido ya
Yo he pintado muchos paisajes
How do we conjugate it?
Some things to remember:
Be careful with the irregular past participles
When in doubt You can always consult a dictionary or this verb conjugator to find answers.
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5. El futuro perfecto
The future perfect in English would be when we say:
John will have eaten already
I will have painted many landscapes
The form the future perfect in Spanish we take the verb haber in the future and then add the past participle:
John habrá comido ya
Yo habré pintado muchos paisajes
How do we conjugate it?
Some things to remember:
Be careful with the irregular past participles
When in doubt You can always consult a dictionary or this verb conjugator to find answers.
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6. El pluscuamperfecto
The the pluperfect in English would be when we say:
John had eaten already
I had painted many landscapes
The form the pluperfect in Spanish we take the verb haber in the imperfect and then add the past participle:
John había comido ya
Yo había pintado muchos paisajes
How do we conjugate it?
Some things to remember:
Be careful with the irregular past participles
When in doubt You can always consult a dictionary or this verb conjugator to find answers.
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7. El condicional perfecto
The conditional perfect in English would be when we say:
John would have eaten already
You would have painted many landscapes
The form the conditional perfect in Spanish we take the verb haber in the conditional and then add the past participle:
John habría comido ya
Tú habrías pintado muchos paisajes
How do we conjugate it?
Some things to remember:
Be careful with the irregular past participles
When in doubt You can always consult a dictionary or this verb conjugator to find answers.
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes algo para practicar. Debes lograr al menos 80% ¡Suerte!
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8. Presente perfecto del subjuntivo
The present perfect subjunctive in English would be when we say:
I doubt that John has eaten already
I doubt that you have painted many landscapes
The form the conditional perfect in Spanish we take the verb haber in the present subjunctive and then add the past participle:
Yo dudo que John haya comido ya
Yo dudo que tú hayas pintado muchos paisajes
How do we conjugate it? First think “Yo dudo que…”
Some things to remember:
Be careful with the irregular past participles
When in doubt You can always consult a dictionary or this verb conjugator to find answers
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes algo para practicar. Debes lograr al menos 80% ¡Suerte!
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9. Pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo
The pluperfect subjunctive in English would be when we say:
I doubted that John had eaten already
I doubted that you had painted many landscapes
The form the conditional perfect in Spanish we take the verb haber in the imperfect subjunctive and then add the past participle:
Yo dudaba que John hubiera comido ya
Yo dudaba que tú hubieras pintado muchos paisajes
How do we conjugate it? First think “Yo dudaba que…”
Some things to remember:
Be careful with the irregular past participles
When in doubt You can always consult a dictionary or this verb conjugator to find answers.
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes algo para practicar. Debes lograr al menos 80% ¡Suerte!
This unit “Subjuntivo: Los tiempos compuestos” was created by Alegría Ribadeneira by combining original material and sections about verbs from Spanish411.net, licensed CC BY-NC-SA and Spanish Grammar Manual by Enrique Yépez licensed CC BY-NC-SA.
