Past hypotheses: si hubiera sabido, habría venido

How do you talk about a past that didn't happen? If I'd known, I would have come. Spanish uses the pluperfect subjunctive (pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo) for the imaginary condition and usually the conditional perfect for the imaginary result.

Form: hubiera / hubiese + participle

The auxiliary haber goes into the imperfect subjunctive (The imperfect subjunctive: -ra and -se forms), with both the -ra and the -se forms.

The result clause uses the conditional perfect: habría, habrías, habría, habríamos, habríais, habrían + participle (Future and conditional perfect, including guesses about the past).

Past hypotheses

• Si hubiera sabido que estabas enfermo, te habría llamado.If I'd known you were ill, I'd have called you.
• Si hubiésemos salido antes, no habríamos perdido el vuelo.If we'd left earlier, we wouldn't have missed the flight.

In the result, hubiera + participle can replace habría + participle. This is very common in speech everywhere, and correct:

• Si me lo hubieras dicho, te hubiera ayudado.If you'd told me, I would have helped you.

In the result clause, hubiese is also used by some speakers, but habría or hubiera are the most usual choices. In the si clause, never use habría: si habría sabido.

Mixed hypotheses

The two halves can refer to different times. A past condition can have a present result, and a permanent present condition can have a past result.

• Si hubiera estudiado Ingeniería, ahora ganaría más.If I'd studied engineering, I'd earn more now.
• Si no fuera tan tímido, se lo habría dicho hace años.If he weren't so shy, he'd have told her years ago.

Regret: ojalá + pluperfect subjunctive

Ojalá + pluperfect subjunctive is like English I wish I had… or If only…: the chance has gone.

• Ojalá no hubiera aceptado ese trabajo.I wish I hadn't accepted that job.

After a past trigger, for an earlier action

The pluperfect subjunctive is also the past of the perfect subjunctive: a past trigger looking at something that had already happened.

• Me dolió que no me hubieran invitado a la boda.It hurt that they hadn't invited me to the wedding.
• Nadie creía que el equipo hubiera ganado la liga.Nobody believed the team had won the league.

A shorter, more formal alternative to the si clause is de + haber + participle: De haberlo sabido, habría venido. See Infinitive or gerund: al llegar, de haberlo sabido.

Latin America

Same forms, with ustedes for vosotros. Hubiera in the result clause (si lo hubiera sabido, hubiera venido) is especially frequent in Latin American speech.

Common mistakes

• Si habría sabido, habría venido: no conditional in the si clause: Si hubiera sabido…
• Si hubiera sabido, vendría for a past result: say habría venido (or hubiera venido). Vendría only works for a present result.
• Si tendría sabido: the auxiliary is always haber, never tener.
• Ojalá haya venido for something you know didn't happen: use Ojalá hubiera venido.