The Conditional Perfect
Uses:
In Spanish, the Conditional Perfect is used to express an action that would have happened if another action or event had happen.
It is normally expressed in an if clause with the Pluperfect Subjunctive.
For example:
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Si hubieras ganado la lotería, habrías comprado muchas cosas
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Yo habría hecho mis deberes si no hubiera jugado al fútbol
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Si hubiéramos viajado a Barcelona habríamos visto la Sagrada Familia
Formation: Regular verbs
The Conditional Perfect is formed by using the Conditional of the auxiliary verb, haber, and a past participle.
The verb haber indicates who will have done the action.
Below is the Conditional conjugation of haber:
In addtion to haber, the Conditional Perfect requires a past participle.
In order to form the past participles of regular verbs like hablar, comer, and vivir, we follow these steps:
1. We remove the infinitive ending to obtain the stem
hablar - ar = habl
comer - er = com
vivir - ir = viv
2. We add the correct ending to the stem:
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ar → ado
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er → ido
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ir → ido
Therefore the past participles of hablar, comer, and vivir are as follows:
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hablar → hablado
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comer → comido
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vivir → vivido
Formation: Irregular past participles
There are a few irregular past participles in Spanish.
Spelling change ído instead of ido:
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atraer → atraído
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caer → caído
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creer → creído
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leer → leído
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oír → oído
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traer → traído
1. Very important verbs:
decir → dicho
hacer → hecho
ver → visto
volver → vuelto
2. Important verbs:
abrir → abierto
escribir → escrito
freír → frito
morir → muerto
poner → puesto
romper → roto
3. Less important verbs:
cubrir → cubierto
prender → preso
resolver → resuelto
satisfacer → satisfecho
Click here to continue to exercises on the Conditional Perfect
Published: 18/04/2016