Literary tenses: pretérito anterior, -se subjunctive, historic present

Literary, historical and journalistic prose uses verb forms that conversation rarely needs. You must recognise all of them, and use some in formal writing.

The pretérito anterior: hube + participle

This tense means had done immediately before another past event. It only appears after time conjunctions such as apenas, en cuanto, tan pronto como, una vez que, no bien, luego que, después que, and almost only in writing.

• Apenas hubo cerrado la puerta, sonó el teléfono.Scarcely had he closed the door when the phone rang.
• Una vez que hubieron firmado el acuerdo, los dos ministros se retiraron.Once they had signed the agreement, the two ministers withdrew.

In speech, use the preterite or the pluperfect instead (The pluperfect: había hablado): En cuanto cerró la puerta, sonó el teléfono.

The -se imperfect subjunctive

In subjunctive uses, the -se forms (hablase, comiese, tuviese) and the -ra forms (hablara, comiera, tuviera) are interchangeable (The imperfect subjunctive: -ra and -se forms). The -se forms are more common in Spain than in Latin America, although -ra is the more frequent form overall.

• Si lo supiese, te lo diría.If I knew, I'd tell you.
• Le pedí que me esperase en la estación.I asked him to wait for me at the station.

What only the -ra form can do

The -ra form comes from an old Latin pluperfect indicative, and it keeps two non-subjunctive uses where -se is impossible:

• Politeness, with querer, deber, poder: quisiera = I would like, debiera = ought to.
• Pluperfect indicative in literary and journalistic prose, in relative clauses: que naciera = que había nacido.

• Quisiera hablar con la directora, si es posible.I would like to speak to the director, if possible.
• El pueblo donde naciera el poeta apenas tiene hoy doscientos vecinos.The village where the poet had been born barely has two hundred inhabitants today.

The historic present

Narratives, biographies and history books often tell past events in the present to make them vivid or to give a clear chronology. Conversation does the same with anecdotes.

• En 1936 estalla la guerra y la familia huye a Francia.In 1936 the war breaks out and the family flees to France.
• Ayer voy por la calle y me encuentro a mi exnovio.Yesterday I'm walking down the street and I bump into my ex.

Two press tenses

• The narrative imperfect presents a single completed event with an imperfect, a dramatic, slowed-down effect: Tres días después, el general moría en el exilio.
• The conditional of rumour marks a claim as reported, not confirmed. Style guides often advise against it as a calque, but you will read it every day.

• Según fuentes policiales, el detenido habría confesado el robo.According to police sources, the detainee has reportedly confessed to the robbery.

The conditional also expresses the future seen from the past in narrative: Aquella noche se despidió de su madre. No volvería a verla. For the future subjunctive of legal texts, see The future subjunctive in legal texts and set phrases (sea lo que fuere).

Latin America

The -ra form dominates in speech almost everywhere in Latin America, and -se sounds bookish there. The -ra form with pluperfect value is common in Latin American journalism. The pretérito anterior is equally literary on both sides of the Atlantic.

Common mistakes

• Quisiese un café, por favor: only quisiera has the polite conditional value.
• la casa que construyese su abuelo meaning had built: only the -ra form can stand for the pluperfect indicative.
• Using the pretérito anterior in speech or without a time conjunction: Hube estado en Roma. Say Había estado or Estuve.
• Reading the conditional of rumour as a hypothesis: habría confesado means reportedly confessed, not would have confessed.
• Thinking a historic present makes the event current: the context (en 1936) keeps it in the past.