The Past Perfect in the Subjunctive

The Past Perfect subjunctive is formed in the same way we form the past perfect in the indicative!  We need a conjugation of the verb Haber and a past participle.  The only difference is that we conjugate Haber  in the past (Imperfect) subjunctive!
Haber yo él, ella, usted nosotros ellos, ellas, ustedes
hubiera hubieras hubiera hubiéramos hubieran

And we still use the same past participles as we do for the regular present perfect:

Esperaba que Ryan hubiera comprado la cerveza. I was hoping that Ryan had bought the beer. [Implied: that he did not buy it.]

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Copyright © 2000 Deborah R. Lemon. All rights reserved.