Subjunctive counterparts to the perfect and pluperfect tenses illustrated in
Table 10.30 are formed using the present and imperfect subjunctive forms
of haber respectively: haya hecho, hayas hechoetc.; hubiera/hubiese hecho,
hubieras/hubieses hechoetc.The auxiliary verb habercan be used with a past participle to create what
is often called a perfect infinitive, as in después de haber hablado‘after
having spoken’ or por haber hecho eso‘for having done that’.
When reading literature (but not in speech) students will encounter what
is called the past anterior tense. It is formed from the preterite of haber+
a past participle, e.g. hube hablado, hubiste habladoetc. See 11.2.5 on its
use.
The future perfect subjunctive, which is all but extinct except in legal and
ecclesiastical phraseology, is formed from the future subjunctive of haber
plus the past participle of another verb, e.g. hubiere hablado, hubieres
habladoetc.Progressive or continuous tenses
The progressive tenses are formed by combining the gerund of the verb in
question with an appropriate form of the verb estar. The main possibili-
ties are as in Table 10.31.
The progressive auxiliary estarcan be used in a compound tense to form
compound progressive forms such as he estado hablando‘I have been
talking’, había estado hablando ‘I had been talking’ and habré estado
hablando ‘I will have been talking’.
For the use of the progressive tenses see 11.3.10.10
1111
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
12111
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
20111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
40
41111
10
Verb forms