Spanish Verbs
The Preterit Perfect Tense
The compound tenses are formed by taking the auxilary verb "haber" and adding a past participle.
Therefore, the preterit perfect tense takes the preterit tense form of the verb "haber" and adds the past participle. Please note that this tense is rarely used in speech. It is sometimes still seen in literary works and writings.
Here is "haber" in the preterit tense.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| first person | hube | hubimos |
| second person | hubiste | hubisteis |
| third person | hubo | hubieron |
Here is an example of "comer" conjugated in the preterit perfect tense. Note that the past participle of "comer" is comido.
yo hube
comido
tú hubiste comido
él/ella/usted hubo
comido
nosotros hubimos comido
vosotros hubisteis
comido
ellos/ellas/ustedes
hubieron comido