Breakdown of Ya habíamos explorado la pirámide donde habían tallado su historia.
su
his/her/its/their/your (formal)
ya
already / now (right now)
explorar
to explore
la historia
history
haber
(auxiliary) have
donde
where (relative)
tallar
to carve
la pirámide
the pyramid
Questions & Answers about Ya habíamos explorado la pirámide donde habían tallado su historia.
What tense are habíamos explorado and habían tallado, and how are they formed?
They are in the past perfect tense (often called the pluscuamperfecto). It is used to talk about an action that happened before another past action, just like "had explored" or "had carved" in English. To form it, you combine the imperfect tense of the helper verb haber (here, habíamos for "we" and habían for "they") with the past participle of the main verb (explorado and tallado).
Why is ya placed before the verbs? Could I say habíamos ya explorado like in English?
No, you can never separate the helper verb (haber) and the past participle in Spanish. In English, it is common to put words like "already" in the middle of the verb phrase ("had already explored"). However, in Spanish, words like ya (already) or no (not) must always go before the conjugated form of haber. That is why it has to be Ya habíamos explorado.
The word su has many meanings. How do we know it means "their" in this sentence?
It is all about context! Because the closest verb before it is habían tallado (they had carved), it is natural to assume the history belongs to the people who carved it. Therefore, su translates to "their" here, even though out of context it could also mean "his," "her," or formal "your."
Does historia mean "history" or "story" here?
It can mean both! In Spanish, historia is the word for both factual history and a fictional or personal story. Given the context of a pyramid and ancient carvings, "history" is the best translation, but "story" would also make perfect sense.
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