Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

19 Sequence of tense

Spanish verb forms fall into two major groups from the point of view of sequence of

tense:

Unless there are good reasons to the contrary, verb-forms from different groups

should not be mixed in reported speech constructions and in constructions involving

the subjunctive.

19.1 In reported (indirect) speech

^33 (p. 196)

NOTE Indirect statements and questions use the indicative; indirect commands use the

subjunctive.

Group 1: Related to the present Group 2: Related to the past

Indicative present imperfect

perfect pluperfect

future perfect conditional perfect

preterite

Subjunctive present past (imperfect)

perfect pluperfect

Direct speech Reported speech

related to Present

Reported speech related

to Past

Future: «Loharé». ‘I’ll do it’. Present/future:

Pepediceque lo hará.

Pepe says he’ll do it.

Preterite/conditional:

Pepedijo que lo haría.

Pepe said he’d do it.

Future: «Volveremos». ‘We

will come back’.

Perfect/future: Nos

han prometido

quevolverán.

They’ve promised

us that they will

come back.

Pluperfect/conditional:

Noshabían prometido

quevolverían.

They had promised us that

they would come back.