Compound Tenses with Haber  

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Compound Tenses with Haber

Nunca hemos estado en París. We have never been to Paris.
Ya me lo habían mencionado. They had already mentioned it to me.
Lo habré terminado para el sábado. I will have finished it by Saturday.
Yo no me habría sentido así. I would not have felt that way.

• Spanish forms compound tenses with the auxiliary haber and the past participle in much the same way that English does with have.
• Following haber, the past participle is invariable; it always ends in -o. (Following ser or estar, the past participle agrees with the noun in gender and number as an adjective. See §25 and 41). To review the formation of the past participle, see §26.
• Reflexive and object pronouns must precede the conjugated form of haber.
• Hay is expressed in any of these tenses with the past participle of haber preceded by the auxiliary (ha, había, habrá, habría) in the 3rd person singular:
No ha habido problemas en el país. There haven't been any problems in the country.

COMPOUND SUBJUNCTIVE TENSES USING haber:

Lamento que la haya tratado tan mal. I am sorry that he (has) treated her so badly.
Dudo que la hayan visto todavía. I doubt that they have seen it yet.
Si se me hubiera dicho eso, no habría ido. Had I been told that, I wouldn't have gone.
Nunca salía antes de que su esposa se hubiera levantado. He never went out before his wife
had gotten up.

• Compound subjunctive tenses are ruled by the general principles for the use of the subjunctive (See APPENDIX B for a summary).
• A common context for using the pluperfect subjunctive (hubiera) is in si-clauses referring to the past. The perfect subjunctive (haya) is never used after si:
Te habría llamado si hubiera podido. I would have called you if I had been able to.
Si hubiera habido tiempo, nos habríamos divertido. Had there been some time, we would have had fun.







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