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Grammar Summary

Spanish-3 Unidad 1 Etapa 1

The Imperfect Tense (Review)

For a review of how to form the imperfect tense, go to Spanish-2 Unidad 2 Etapa 1 Use your browser's back arrow to return to this page.

For a review of Preterite vs. Imperfect, go to Spanish-2 Unidad 2 Etapa 2.  Use your browser's back arrow to return to this page.

Present and Past Perfect Tenses

You have already learned how to form and use the Present Perfect.  The Present Perfect is used to talk about actions or events that have already occurred, but from the viewpoint of the present.  For a review, go to Spanish-2 Unidad 6 Etapa 2.  Use your browser's back arrow to return to this page.

The Past Perfect refers to an action that had already occurred when something else happened, and from the viewpoint of the past.   Both actions are in the past, one occurring before the other.   To form the Past Perfect:

Past Perfect = Imperfect of haber + Past Participle
Yo había hablado Nosotros  habíamos hablado
Tú  habías hablado Vosotros  habíais hablado
Él, ella, usted había hablado Ellos, ustedes  habían hablado

In both the Present Perfect and Past Perfect, object pronouns and reflexive pronouns are placed before the conjugated form of haber:

¿Te has duchado? Have you showered?
¿Te  habías duchado antes de que perdimos la electricidad? Had you showered before we lost electrical power?