Present and Pluperfect Subjunctive

Present Perfect Subjunctive Remember how the present perfect indicative is the present (indicative) of “haber” + the past participle? Well, the present perfect subjunctive is the present subjunctive of “haber” (which, like the present indicative of “haber,” is irregular) + the past participle: haya hablado hayamos hablado hayas hablado hayáis hablado haya hablado hayan hablado

ha hablado he has spoken haya hablado he has spoken As you might expect, the present perfect subjunctive translates just like the present perfect indicative: ha hablado he has spoken haya hablado he has spoken You use the present perfect subjunctive whenever you need the subjunctive: Sabemos que Juan ha comido. – We know that Juan has eaten. Dudamos que Juan haya comido. – We doubt that Juan has eaten.

Pluperfect (Past Perfect) Subjunctive The past perfect subjunctive is the past (imperfect) subjunctive of “haber” + the past participle. Remember that the way you get the past (imperfect) subjunctive root is to go to the third person plural of the preterit. The preterit of “haber” is “hubieron.” hubiera hablado hubiéramos hablado hubieras hablado hubierais hablado hubiera hablado hubieran hablado

había hablado he had spoken hubiera hablado he had spoken The pluperfect subjunctive translates the same way the past perfect does: había hablado he had spoken hubiera hablado he had spoken You use the pluperfect subjunctive whenever you need the subjunctive rather than the indicative: Sabíamos que había comido. – We knew that he had eaten. Dudábamos que hubiera comido. – We doubted that he had eaten.