Using the Spanish present perfect subjunctive after esperar que to express a completed action in the past

"Esperar que..." (to hope that...) can be followed by El Pretérito Perfecto Subjuntivo to express the hope that something happened or has happened, as a completed action in the past.

Read and listen to these examples:

Espero que lo hayáis pasado fenomenal en Chile.I hope that you had a great time in Chile. [you=vosotros]

Esperamos que lo hayas terminado a tiempo.We hope that you have finished it on time. [you=tú]

Esperan que hayan venido pronto los niños.They hope that the children have come early.

Espero que hayáis reservado en el restaurante con antelación.I hope that you booked the restaurant in advance. [you=vosotros]

Espero que hayan disfrutado mucho de su estancia en nuestro hotel.I hope you really enjoyed your stay at our hotel. [you=ustedes]

Notice that while in English the preterite or the present perfect is used, you cannot use the equivalent tenses in Spanish in the indicative after "espero que...":

I hope that you arrived last night.

Espero que tú llegaste anoche.

I hope that she has locked the door.

Espero que ha cerrado la puerta con llave.

It is grammatically wrong to use El Pretérito Perfecto and El Pretérito Indefinido after the verb esperar que!

See also Modo subjuntivo

For other uses of "esperar que..." see also:

Using the Spanish present perfect subjunctive after esperar que to express a completed action in the future and Using esperar que + present subjunctive in Spanish to express hope 

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Examples and resources

Espero que hayáis reservado en el restaurante con antelación.I hope that you booked the restaurant in advance. [you=vosotros]
Esperamos que lo hayas terminado a tiempo.We hope that you have finished it on time. [you=tú]
Esperan que hayan venido pronto los niños.They hope that the children have come early.
Espero que hayan disfrutado mucho de su estancia en nuestro hotel.I hope you really enjoyed your stay at our hotel. [you=ustedes]
Espero que lo hayáis pasado fenomenal en Chile.I hope that you had a great time in Chile. [you=vosotros]
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