Spanish Conditional Perfect Tense

The conditional perfect (condicional compuesto), is a Spanish compound tense. It is used to express possibility in the past i.e. actions the could or would have taken place. We can also express wishes or suppositions about the past.

The conditional perfect tense indicates what would have happened if certain circumstances came to pass. Unfortunately, it never happened. Think of it as a speculation. Example: What would have happened if you played the lottery.

Qué hubiera pasado si hubieras jugado a la lotería.

The conditional tense uses the verb “haber,” together with a verb in past participle. To form the past participle of the verbs, remove the endings “ar,”

“er,” “ir,” and add “ado,” for ar-er verbs and “ido” for “ir” verbs.

Ellos habrían comprado más comida, si hubieran tenido más dinero.

They would have bought more food, if they had more money.

You will use the conditional perfect tense when you want to say that you wish something had happened but did not because something got in the way.

For English we write: “would have” + verb. For Spanish we write: habría + verb

Yo habría vendido mi bote, si la gente lo hubiera visto. (vender)

I would have sold my boat, if people would have seen it.

Ella habría trabajado, pero estaba cansada. She would have worked, but she was tired.(trabajar)

Another way the conditional perfect tense is used, is when something was likely to happen or might have happened.

Escuchar

El hubiera escuchado.

He would have listened

Ser

Habría sido Noviembre cuando se murió tu tía

It might have been November when your aunt died.

The conditional perfect (condicional compuesto), is a Spanish compound tense. It is used to express possibility in the past i.e. actions the could or would have taken place. We can also express wishes or suppositions about the past.