Celebrate the holidays! Save 20% on annual and biennial Premium »

Conjugate regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs in the pluperfect tense in Spanish (El Pluscuamperfecto de Indicativo)

Written by qualified Spanish expert Inma Sánchez BA
Last updated: 2024-12-11
5 questions

El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto is used in Spanish to express what had happened. Lots of Spanish verbs are regular in this tense as they have a regular past participle.

Learn how to conjugate regular Spanish verbs in El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto in Spanish 

It's formed with El Pretérito Imperfecto of haber plus the past participle of the main verb:

yo había  
tú habías  
él / ella / Ud.
 había   +  past participle
nosotros / nosotras 
habíamos  
vosotros / vosotras 
habíais  
ellos /ellas/ Uds. 
habían  
Notice how in all forms of haber in the pluperfect tense there is a written accent on the -i (había, habías, había, habíamos, habíais, habían)

Read and listen to these regular verbs conjugated in El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto:

Yo había jugado con ella antes.I had played with her before.

Tú habías terminado la cena a las ocho.You had finished your dinner at eight.

Ella no había traducido en alemán nunca.She had never translated into German.

Nosotros ya habíamos conducido por la derecha en España.We had already driven on the right-hand side in Spain.

Vosotros habíais bebido demasiado.You had drunk too much.

Ellas habían tenido mucha suerte en el trabajo.They had been very lucky at work. [lit: had had luck]

Ustedes habían hablado con el abogado.You had talked to the lawyer.

We use El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto to express when something "had happened" in the past.

Remember:

regular -ar, -er and -ir past participles:

habl-ar   ->  habl-ado

com-er  -> com-ido

viv-ir  ->  viv-ido

See also:

Want to make sure your Spanish sounds confident? We’ll map your knowledge and give you free lessons to focus on your gaps and mistakes. Start your Brainmap today »

Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics

Examples and resources

Yo había jugado con ella antes.I had played with her before.
Tú habías terminado la cena a las ocho.You had finished your dinner at eight.
Ella no había traducido en alemán nunca.She had never translated into German.
Ellas habían tenido mucha suerte en el trabajo.They had been very lucky at work. [lit: had had luck]
Vosotros habíais bebido demasiado.You had drunk too much.
Nosotros ya habíamos conducido por la derecha en España.We had already driven on the right-hand side in Spain.
Ustedes habían hablado con el abogado.You had talked to the lawyer.
Clever stuff happening!