The pluperfect subjunctive shows up whenever a past subjunctive context needs to refer to something that happened even earlier. If the imperfect subjunctive is "what you wanted, doubted, or imagined then," the pluperfect subjunctive is "what you wanted, doubted, or imagined had already happened by then."
It's the subjunctive equivalent of the English "had done" tense — and like its indicative cousin, it lets you stack two past moments on top of each other to make the time relationships clear.
Past subjunctive, one step further back
Any trigger that would normally require the imperfect subjunctive can instead take the pluperfect subjunctive when the action comes before that past moment. Compare:
No creía que llegara a tiempo.
I didn't believe he would arrive on time.
No creía que hubiera llegado a tiempo.
I didn't believe he had arrived on time.
In the first sentence, the doubted event is simultaneous with or later than no creía. In the second, the doubted event is earlier: by the moment of not believing, he supposedly had already arrived.
Common triggers and their families
The pluperfect subjunctive is triggered by the same expressions as the other past subjunctive forms, whenever the dependent event is anterior:
- Emotion: Me alegró que..., Sentí que..., Le dolió que...
- Doubt or denial: No creía que..., Dudaba que..., Negaba que...
- Wishes and hopes: Ojalá..., Quería que..., Esperaba que...
- Impersonal expressions: Era posible que..., Era increíble que...
Dudaba que ellos hubieran terminado el proyecto.
I doubted that they had finished the project.
Ojalá hubiéramos comprado los boletos antes.
I wish we had bought the tickets earlier.
Era increíble que el niño hubiera aprendido tanto en un mes.
It was incredible that the child had learned so much in a month.
Esperaban que ya hubiéramos firmado el contrato.
They were hoping we had already signed the contract.
In si-clauses
The pluperfect subjunctive is also the heart of the third type of si-clause, used for unreal or "contrary-to-fact" situations in the past. The clause with si uses the pluperfect subjunctive, and the main clause uses the conditional perfect (or, just as commonly in Latin America, another pluperfect subjunctive in -ra).
Si hubiera sabido la verdad, no te habría mentido.
If I had known the truth, I wouldn't have lied to you.
Si hubieran estudiado más, hubieran aprobado el examen.
If they had studied more, they would have passed the exam.
For a full breakdown of these conditionals, see Si-Clauses Type 3.
After como si
The expression como si ("as if") always introduces a hypothetical situation, and it can also point to anterior events with the pluperfect subjunctive:
Me miró como si hubiera visto un fantasma.
He looked at me as if he had seen a ghost.
Habla del tema como si lo hubiera estudiado toda la vida.
She talks about the subject as if she had studied it her whole life.
With "ojalá"
Ojalá + pluperfect subjunctive expresses regret about the past — something you wish had gone differently. This is one of the most emotionally charged uses of the tense.
Ojalá no le hubiera dicho nada.
I wish I hadn't said anything to him.
Ojalá hubieras llegado un poco antes.
I wish you had arrived a little earlier.
Ojalá no me hubiera enterado nunca.
I wish I had never found out.
Side-by-side: imperfect vs. pluperfect subjunctive
Seeing the two past subjunctives next to each other makes the time difference vivid:
| Tense | Example | Time relationship |
|---|---|---|
| imperfect subj. | Quería que viniera. | simultaneous or later |
| pluperfect subj. | Quería que hubiera venido. | before the wishing |
| imperfect subj. | Dudaba que estudiara. | simultaneous or later |
| pluperfect subj. | Dudaba que hubiera estudiado. | before the doubting |
In the first row of each pair, the action and the wish/doubt happen at the same time. In the second, the action is already complete by the time the speaker is wishing or doubting.
Reported speech and indirect questions
The pluperfect subjunctive often appears when you report what someone said or thought about a prior event:
Le sorprendió que ya hubiéramos llegado.
It surprised her that we had already arrived.
No sabía que hubieras estudiado en Argentina.
I didn't know you had studied in Argentina.
The first verb (sorprendió, sabía) is past, and the second action is even further back — exactly the situation the pluperfect subjunctive is built for.
Where to go next
For the broader rules that decide which subjunctive tense belongs with which main clause, see Sequence of Tenses. To brush up on how the pluperfect subjunctive is built in the first place, see Pluperfect Subjunctive: Formation. And for its single most common context, see Si-Clauses Type 3.
Related Topics
- Pluperfect Subjunctive: FormationC1 — Learn to form the pluperfect subjunctive with haber plus the past participle.
- Si-Clauses Type 3C1 — Talk about things that didn't happen using the pluperfect subjunctive and the conditional perfect.
- Sequence of TensesC1 — How the tense of the main clause decides which subjunctive tense belongs in the subordinate clause.