Spanish grammar · Intermediate (B1)
The pluperfect and reported speech: había hecho
How to say what had already happened with había + participle, and how to report what someone said with dijo que.
How to form it
The “pluperfect” () is made with in the imperfect plus the past participle: (had left), (we had eaten).
The participle is the same as in the present perfect and never changes: -ado for -ar verbs, -ido for -er and -ir verbs. Reflexive and object pronouns go before : (she had left), (I had seen it).
| Person | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| / / | ||
| / | ||
| / | ||
| / / |
Irregular participles
Verbs with an irregular participle keep it in the pluperfect. Verbs built on them do the same: → , → .
| Infinitive | Participle | English |
|---|---|---|
| done, made | ||
| seen | ||
| come back | ||
| said | ||
| written | ||
| put | ||
| opened | ||
| broken |
When to use it
Use the pluperfect for something that had already happened before another moment in the past. It often goes with (already) and (never).
Compare: (the train left as I arrived) and (the train had left before I arrived).
- Cuando llegué a la estación, el tren ya había salido.When I got to the station, the train had already left.
- Nunca había visto un paisaje así.I had never seen a landscape like that.
- Antes yo ya había trabajado en una tienda.Before that, I had already worked in a shop.
Reporting what someone said
After or , the verb usually stays the same: . After (preterite), the tenses move one step into the past: a present becomes an imperfect, becomes , and a present perfect or preterite becomes a pluperfect.
| What was said | Reported with / |
|---|---|