Talking about the Distant Past: the Past Perfect Indicative and Subjunctive

In English, when we talk about an action completed in the distant past, we use the helping verb to have to say had done something, e.g, I had spoken, you had eaten, he had lived.

Spanish has a similar pattern, using a form of the helping verb haber in combination with the participle form of the verb. The participle is the -ed form of the verb (walked, talked).

To form the participle for -ar verbs, simply take off the -ar and add -ado:

• hablar -->  habl -->  hablado

for -er and -ir verbs, take off the -er or the -ir and add  -ido:

• comer -->  com -->  comido
  vivir -->  viv -->  vivido
  
  
  Yo había hablado  -- I have spoken; tú habías comido -- you had eaten; ella había vivido  -- she had lived

The imperfect indicative conjugation of haber is:

yo	había
tú	habías
él, ella, Ud.	había
nosotros/as	habíamos
vosotros/as	habíais
ellos/ellas, Uds.	habían

The present perfect can also be formed using the past subjunctive conjugations of haber:

yo	hubiera/hubiese
tú	hubieras/hubieses
él, ella, Ud.	hubiera/hubiese
nosotros/as	hubiéramos/hubiésemos
vosotros/as	hubieráis/hubieséis
ellos/ellas, Uds.	hubieran/hubiesen

• Ojalá hubieras llegado a tiempo -- I wish you had arrived on time

Although not often used, the preterite indicative tense of haber can also be used to form the past perfect:

yo	hube
tú	hubiste
él, ella, Ud.	hubo
nosotros/as	hubimos
vosotros/as	hubistéis
ellos/ellas, Uds.	hubieron

• En cuanto hubo salido del banco, la policía lo vio -- As soon as he had left the bank, the police saw him

There is an important number of irregular participles that do not follow the above rule.  Here is a list of some of the more important ones. They are very common and therefore, must be memorised:

• abierto -- opened
  dicho -- said
  escrito -- written
  frito --- fried
  hecho -- done, made
  muerto -- died, dead
  puesto -- put, placed
  visto -- seen
  

Very often, the participle form of the verb can also be used as an adjective:

• La tienda estaba abierta -- The shop was open
  El pescado estaba frito -- The fish was fried
  

As with most adjectives, the usual masculine or feminine, singular or plural endings must be used.