(c) Polite use:
29.8 (p. 161); 30.4 (p. 173); 31.3 (p. 187);^68 (p. 381)
Por favor, ¿podría decirme a qué hora sale el próximo vuelo para
Barcelona?
Could you please tell me what time the next flight for Barcelona is
leaving?
¿Le importaría esperarme un momento? (see 68 )
Would you mind waiting for me a moment?
(d) With modal verbs (see 21 ):
No deberías beber tanto. (see 61.2)
You shouldn’t drink so much.
¿Podría suceder? (see 48.2)
Could it happen?
(e) Saying probability with regard to something in the past:
48.1 (p. 282);^50 (p. 296)
En aquel tiempo yo tendría unos doce años. (see 48.1)
At that time I must have been about twelve.
17.8 Conditional perfect
(a) In the consequence of a past conditional sentence:
Si lo hubiéramos sabido antes, no habríamos dicho nada.
If we had known before, we would not have said anything.
(b) In reported speech, as the past equivalent of the future perfect:
Le dijimos que nos habríamos marchado antes del anochecer.
We told him/her that we would have gone before nightfall.
17.9 Pluperfect
73.11 (p. 423)
Past events which occurred before another past event or situation:
La reunión había terminado cuando llegó. (see 73.11)
The meeting had finished when he/she arrived.
(1) If the sequence of events is obvious, the preterite is often used instead of the
pluperfect:
Cuando salió a la calle, encontró que estaba lloviendo.
When he/she went out into the street, he/she found that it was raining.
(2) In the written language in Latin America, and in journalistic style in the Peninsula,
the -ra form of the past subjunctive is sometimes used instead of the pluperfect:
17.8
USE OF THE VERB FORMS
