Conjugate verbs in El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo

Question

Parece como si hubieses tenido una pelea con alguien.It looks as if you have had a fight with someone.
This is in the lesson plan. But according to a chart in a textbook I have, if the verb in the main clause is in the present (parece), then the dependent clause would be imperfect subjunctive or present perfect subjunctive. So the correct Spanish for what is written in English above would be "Parece como si hayas tenido una pelea con alguien." And the correct English translation for the Spanish sentence in the lesson would be, "It looks as if you had had a fight with someone," which is not a normal expression. The Spanish should be "Parecia como si hubieras tenido ..." Please advise if I am incorrect and why. Thanks so much.

Accepted Answer

Hi again Jean
I checked with the team and they agree that to use the pluperfect "had had" you'd need the main verb in the past: "It looked as if he'd had a fight." 
In Spanish we can have the main verb in the present though and still use the Pluscuamperfecto. It seems that this is one of these cases where the Spanish and the English usage are different. We changed the translation to that sentence to just "had" though: "It looks as if he had a fight."
I hope this helps.
Inma

Answer

Hola Jean
In Spanish, parece como si can be followed by the Imperfect Subjunctive or the Pluperfect subjunctive, that it for example:

Parece como si estuviera enfermo.
Parece como si hubiera estado enfermo.
Parece como si esté enfermo.
Parece como si haya estado enfermo.

We don't use el Presente de subjuntivo or el Perfecto de subjuntivo after como si. This is mentioned at the end of this lesson. Have a look.
Sometimes the English doesn't coincide literally with the Spanish in some cases using the subjunctive - this could be the case here in the sentence you are mentioning from our conjugation lesson. I'll check with our English native speakers in the team. 
Saludos
Inma