Intro2Spanish.com: Spanish Verb Conjugation: Indicative: Past Perfect Tense

Perfect tenses use a form of "to have" along with the past participle of the verb or action stated. The participle form in English is the "---ed" form of a verb.

An English Verb Conjugated in the Past Perfect Tense
I had walked	we had walked
you had walked	y'all had walked
he, she, it had walked	they had walked

Note that the only change in these tenses is what you do with the verb to have. The same thing will be true in Spanish.

In Spanish, you use the verb haber (to be) along with the -ado or -ido form of a verb.

AR verbs:	-*ado*
ER & IR verbs:	-ido

For - AR verbs:

For putting an -ar verb into the past perfect, study the following chart where haber is conjugated in the imperfect. You can substitute any -ar verb stem into the ---- (dashes) and attach the -ado ending to achieve the results in the right column.

imperfect tense forms ofHABER+past participleof the verb----- AR
	yo	había	----- ado	I had ----- ed
	tú	habías	----- ado	you had ----- ed
	él	había	----- ado	he had ----- ed
	ella	había	----- ado	she had ----- ed
	Usted	había	----- ado	you had ----- ed
	nosotros	habíamos	----- ado	we had ----- ed
	nosotras	habíamos	----- ado	we(ladies)had ----- ed
	vosotros	habíais	----- ado	y'all had ----- ed
	vosotras	habíais	----- ado	y'all (ladies) had ----- ed
	ellos	habían	----- ado	they had ----- ed
	ellas	habían	----- ado	they(ladies)had ----- ed
	ustedes	habían	----- ado	y'all had ----- ed
This is what someone "had done" ...
Take very special care to note that many English verbs have irregular past participles. You can tell which verbs these are because of their ability to be combined with the verb "to have" to form the perfect tenses.

For - ER verbs:

For putting ER verbs into the past perfect, study the following chart where haber is conjugated in the imperfect. You can substitute any -er verb stem into the ---- (dashes) and attach the -ido ending to achieve the results in the right column.

imperfect tense forms ofHABER+past participleof the verb----- ER
	yo	había	----- ido	I had ----- ed
	tú	habías	----- ido	you had ----- ed
	él	había	----- ido	he had ----- ed
	ella	había	----- ido	she had ----- ed
	Usted	había	----- ido	you had ----- ed
	nosotros	habíamos	----- ido	we had ----- ed
	nosotras	habíamos	----- ido	we(ladies)had ----- ed
	vosotros	habíais	----- ido	y'all had ----- ed
	vosotras	habíais	----- ido	y'all (ladies) had ----- ed
	ellos	habían	----- ido	they had ----- ed
	ellas	habían	----- ido	they(ladies)had ----- ed
	ustedes	habían	----- ido	y'all had ----- ed
This is what someone "had done" ...
Take very special care to note that many English verbs have irregular past participles. You can tell which verbs these are because of their ability to be combined with the verb "to have" to form the perfect tenses.

For - IR verbs:

For putting IR verbs into the past perfect, study the following chart where haber is conjugated in the imperfect. You can substitute any -ir verb stem into the ---- (dashes) and attach the -ido ending to achieve the results in the right column.

imperfect tense forms ofHABER+past participleof the verb----- IR
	yo	había	----- ido	I had ----- ed
	tú	habías	----- ido	you had ----- ed
	él	había	----- ido	he had ----- ed
	ella	había	----- ido	she had ----- ed
	Usted	había	----- ido	you had ----- ed
	nosotros	habíamos	----- ido	we had ----- ed
	nosotras	habíamos	----- ido	we(ladies)had ----- ed
	vosotros	habíais	----- ido	y'all had ----- ed
	vosotras	habíais	----- ido	y'all (ladies) had ----- ed
	ellos	habían	----- ido	they had ----- ed
	ellas	habían	----- ido	they(ladies)had ----- ed
	ustedes	habían	----- ido	y'all had ----- ed
This is what someone "had done" ...
Take very special care to note that many English verbs have irregular past participles. You can tell which verbs these are because of their ability to be combined with the verb "to have" to form the perfect tenses.