Preterite Perfect Tense in Spanish Grammar
- Usage
- Verb Conjugation in Spanish Preterite Perfect
- Signal Words
- Online exercises to improve your Spanish
- Lingolia Plus Spanish
Introduction
The preterite perfect, also preterite anterior, (pretérito anterior) is a Spanish past tense. This tense is rare in modern spoken Spanish, however, it can still be found in literature. The preterite perfect indicates an action that took place directly before another past action. In modern Spanish, it is usually replaced by the pluperfect tense.
Learn about the conjugation and usage of the preterite perfect in Spanish grammar with Lingolia then practise what you have learnt in the exercises. In tense comparison, you will find an overview of all the tenses in Spanish grammar.
Example

Tan pronto como hubo cobrado su primer sueldo, Iván corrió raudo y veloz a comprar una guitarra para poder ir a rondar a su amada.
Usage
The preterite perfect (pretérito anterior) expresses an action that took place directly before another action in the past.
- Example:
- Tan pronto como hubo cobrado su primer sueldo, Iván corrió raudo y veloz a comprar una guitarra para poder ir a rondar a su amada.As soon as he had received his first paycheck, Iván ran quickly to buy a guitar with which to serenade his girlfriend.
Verb Conjugation in Spanish Preterite Perfect
To conjugate the preterite perfect (pretérito anterior), we need the verb haber in the preterite tense and the past participle of the main verb.
person | haber | past participle |
---|---|---|
yo | hube |
hablado aprendido vivido |
tú | hubiste | |
él/ella/usted | hubo | |
nosotros/-as | hubimos | |
vosotros/-as | hubisteis | |
ellos/ellas/ustedes | hubieron |
Past Participle
The past participle is formed by removing the infinitive ending and adding the corresponding verb ending: -ado for verbs that end in -ar or -ido for verbs that end in -er/-ir.
- Example:
- hablar - hablado
- aprender - aprendido
- vivir - vivido
Irregular past participles
-
If there is a vowel directly before the ending -ido, we have to add an accent on the -i of the ending. This shows us that each vowel is pronounced separately and not as a diphthong.
- Example:
- leer – leído
- traer - traído
- Some verbs have an irregular and/or regular participle form. These verbs can be found in the following list:
verb | participle | translation | |
---|---|---|---|
irregular | regular | ||
abrir | abierto | open | |
decir | dicho | say | |
escribir | escrito | write | |
hacer | hecho | do/make | |
freír | frito | freído | fry |
imprimir | impreso | imprimido | |
morir | muerto | die | |
poner | puesto | place/set | |
proveer | provisto | proveído | provide |
suscribir | suscrito/suscripto | sign/suscribe | |
ver | visto | see | |
volver | vuelto | return |
Signal Words
The pretérito anterior is indicated by the following words:
- apenas
- así que
- cuando
- en cuanto
- luego que
- no bien
- tan pronto como
- una vez que