The pluperfect: había hablado

When you tell a story in the past, you sometimes need to step further back: When I got to the cinema, the film had already started. That "had + past participle" is the pluperfect (in Spanish, *pretérito pluscuamperfecto*). It places one past action before** another past action or moment.

How to form it

Take the imperfect of haber (the helper verb you know from the present perfect, The present perfect (he hablado) and when Spain uses it) and add the past participle (-ado / -ido).

The irregular participles are the same ones you learnt in Irregular participles: hecho, dicho, visto, escrito, puesto: hecho, dicho, visto, escrito, puesto, vuelto, roto, abierto, muerto.

The participle never changes after haber: las cartas que había escrito, not escritas. Every form of había carries an accent on the í.

When to use it

### 1. Something that happened before another past event

• Cuando llegamos al cine, la película ya había empezado.When we got to the cinema, the film had already started.
• Los niños ya se habían dormido cuando volvimos.The children had already fallen asleep when we got back.
• Cuando entré, vi que alguien había abierto la ventana.When I went in, I saw that someone had opened the window.

Compare the two stories. The tense alone changes the order of events:

• Cuando llegué, Pedro se fue. = When I arrived, Pedro left (I arrived first, then he left).
• Cuando llegué, Pedro se había ido. = When I arrived, Pedro had left (he left first).

### 2. The reason behind a past situation

• Marta estaba cansada porque había trabajado doce horas.Marta was tired because she had worked twelve hours.

### 3. Experiences up to a point in the past: nunca, ya, todavía no, antes

• Nunca había visto el mar antes de aquel viaje.I had never seen the sea before that trip.
• ¿Habías estado en Granada antes?Had you been to Granada before?
• Todavía no habíamos cenado a las once.We still hadn't had dinner at eleven.

### 4. In relative clauses and reported speech

• Le devolví el libro que me había prestado.I gave back the book she had lent me.
• Me dijo que ya lo había hecho.He told me he had already done it.

You will use this a lot in Reporting what someone said: dijo que… and in longer stories (Narrating the past: all three past tenses together).

Word order

Haber and the participle are a single unit. Object pronouns and no go before había; nothing goes between the two parts.

• No se lo había contado a nadie.I hadn't told anyone.

If the order of events is already obvious from después de or antes de, the plain preterite is fine: Después de cenar, salimos. Use the pluperfect when the order would otherwise be unclear.

Latin America

The pluperfect is formed and used the same way everywhere. In relaxed speech, especially in parts of Latin America, you may hear the preterite with ya where Spain uses the pluperfect (Cuando llegué, ya se fue). The pluperfect is the standard choice everywhere, and it is what you should write.

Common mistakes

• Cuando llegué, la película ya empezó: it started before you arrived, so use había empezado.
• Había nunca visto or Había lo visto: nothing goes between the two parts. Say Nunca había visto, Lo había visto.
• Las fotos que había hechas: the participle doesn't agree after haber: había hecho.
• Habían volvido, había rompido: learn the irregular participles: vuelto, roto.
• "I had a car" is Tenía un coche. English had is only a pluperfect when it is followed by a participle.