C2 · The past
Pretérito anterior and the ra-form as a pluperfect
hubo terminado and la casa donde naciera — two written forms worth being able to read.
At a glance
- Remember
- hubo terminado only after apenas and its relatives — and naciera in a newspaper means «had been born».
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
Before the past — What was already over by the time the story got there.
- Form
- Apenas hubo terminado, se fue.after apenas
- Signal words
- apenas
- en cuanto
- tan pronto como
- hubo
- hubieron
- Trap
- Wrong:Ayer hube comido con Ana.Right:Ayer comí con Ana.
Your turn
5 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
stem (irregular) ending for tense and person
| after apenas | Apenas hubo terminado, se fue. |
| today instead | Apenas terminó, se fue. |
| ra-form as a pluperfect | la casa donde naciera |
| today instead | la casa donde había nacido |
| I had finished | (yo) hube terminado |
| you had finished (tú) | (tú) hubiste terminado |
| he, she / you (usted) had finished | (él, ella, usted) hubo terminado |
| we had finished | (nosotros) hubimos terminado |
| you had finished (vosotros) | (vosotros) hubisteis terminado |
| they / you (ustedes) had finished | (ellos, ellas, ustedes) hubieron terminado |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The pretérito anterior comes after apenas, en cuanto and similar words.
Apenas hubo salido, empezó a llover.Hardly had he gone out when it started to rain.
It names an event immediately before another.
En cuanto hubieron cenado, se acostaron.As soon as they had had dinner, they went to bed.
In writing, the ra-form can replace a pluperfect.
Volvió al pueblo donde naciera ochenta años antes.He returned to the village where he had been born eighty years earlier.
In conversation the indefinido and the pluscuamperfecto are used instead.
Apenas salió, empezó a llover.As soon as he went out, it started to rain.
Example sentences
Tan pronto como hubo firmado, se levantó.As soon as he had signed, he stood up.
Apenas hubimos llegado, sonó el teléfono.We had hardly arrived when the phone rang.
El premio que recibiera en su juventud le dio fama.The prize he had received in his youth made him famous.
Recordó las palabras que su padre le dijera años atrás.He remembered the words his father had said to him years before.
6 more example sentences
Cuando hubo terminado el discurso, todos aplaudieron.When he had finished the speech, everyone applauded.
Después de que hubieron salido, cerramos la puerta.After they had left, we closed the door.
Apenas lo hubo dicho, se arrepintió.No sooner had he said it than he regretted it.
La carta que le escribiera su madre seguía en el cajón.The letter his mother had written him was still in the drawer.
Visitamos la casa donde viviera el poeta.We visited the house where the poet had lived.
Apenas amaneció, se pusieron en camino.As soon as it was light, they set off.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Because the pretérito anterior is built with haber, it looks like one more way of saying «had done» and goes into any sentence: Ayer hube comido con Ana. But it only comes after apenas, en cuanto and their relatives, for an event immediately before another. In a free-standing sentence it is Ayer comí con Ana.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The pretérito anterior is formed from the indefinido of haber and the participle: hube, hubiste, hubo … terminado. It names something completed immediately before another past event, and occurs almost only after apenas, en cuanto, cuando, tan pronto como and después de que: Apenas hubo terminado, se marchó — «no sooner had he finished than he left».
In conversation and in almost every modern text it has been replaced by the indefinido or the pluscuamperfecto: Apenas terminó, se marchó. You meet it in novels and formal reports; there is no need to use it yourself.
The second form is the ra-form of the subjunctive with the meaning of a pluperfect: el libro que escribiera en su juventud — «which he had written in his youth». That is its original meaning, inherited from Latin. Today it appears this way mainly in newspapers and literature, usually in relative clauses.
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