2 advanced Spanish grammar rules for fluent speakers

In language learning, we often focus on the basics. Today, we are tackling complex expressions with advanced Spanish grammar. Whether you live in a Spanish-speaking country or work in a Spanish-speaking work environment, mastering pluperfect subjunctive phrases and pluperfect conditional phrases will help you express yourself accurately in important situations. If you have a higher level of Spanish fluency but want to sound more polished and poised, today’s short lesson on pluperfect phrasing is for you. Get ready to improve your fluency with these two advanced Spanish grammar rules.

• Pluperfect building blocks
• Pluperfect subjunctive phrases
• Pluperfect conditional phrases

Pluperfect building blocks

Beginner Spanish speakers start out using the present indicative or neutral mood, to learn the basic verb conjugations. Intermediate learners use the present subjunctive mood to express imaginary situations and wishes, demands or suggestions. Advanced Spanish grammar requires that the speaker be able to combine multiple moods, tenses and conjugations in a single phrase.

Pluperfect phrasing uses advanced Spanish grammar rules that come in handy in intellectual conversations. Why? They are the building blocks to expressing complex thoughts. Pluperfect phrases are useful for conversations that go beyond everyday chat.

Pluperfect subjunctive phrases

Advanced Spanish is the level at which students learn the pluperfect. . This mood is used to express subjectivity in relation to an action that happened in the past.

The simplest pluperfect subjunctive phrase combines the auxiliary verb in the imperfect subjunctive form with a past participle verb. The format is: imperfect subjunctive auxiliary + past participle verb

To review, the imperfect subjunctive forms of a common auxiliary verb haber are conjugated: hubiera, hubieras, hubiera, hubiéramos, hubieran.

Also to review, the past participle is a verb conjugated with the endings -ado (-ar verbs) or -ido (-er and -ir verbs). Examples include trabajado (worked), comido (eaten) and dormido (slept). 

Let’s see these combined in a table. 

Let’s add details to see how this advanced Spanish grammar can create full phrases.

• Yo hubiera comido más. (I would have eaten more.)
• Hubieras trabajado menos. (You would have worked less.)
• Ella hubiera dormido allá. (She would have slept over there.)
• Nosotras no lo hubiéramos soñado. (We would not have dreamed of it.)
• Ellas hubieran ido más rápido. (They would have gone faster.)

Pluperfect conditional phrases

Building on the prior advanced Spanish grammar rule.  the pluperfect conditional phrase takes any pluperfect subjunctive phrase (above) to the next level. It leverages it to express or emphasize the effect that subjunctive phrase could have had on the subject in a future moment. The format is:  Si (if) + imperfect subjunctive auxiliary + past participle verb + future conditional verb

Remember that a conditional tense starts with the infinitive form of the verb – pensar, comer, ir  - and adds the conditional ending – ía, ías, ía, íamos, ían. Regular –ar, -er, and –ir verbs are all conjugated exactly the same way.

 Let’s add a column to our table to see it in detail: 

Let’s see how this advanced Spanish grammar can create even fuller and more information-rich phrases than before.

• Si yo hubiera comido más, no tendría hambre ahora. (If I had eaten more, I wouldn’t be hungry now.)
• Si hubieras trabajado menos, no podrías tomarte tantas  vacaciones este verano. (If you had worked less, you wouldn’t be able to take such long vacations this summer.)
• Si ella hubiera dormido allá, mañana llegaría en hora. (If she had slept over there, she would arrive on time tomorrow.)
• Sino lo hubiéramos soñado, no lo lograríamos. (If we hadn’t dreamed it, we would not achieve it.)
• Si se hubieran ido más rápido,  no se encontrarían a Lenny Kravitz en el puesto de hamburguesas. (If they had left faster, they wouldn’t  run into Lenny Kravitz at the hamburger stand.)

Advanced Spanish grammar topics

As you can see in the example phrases, these advanced Spanish grammar rules allow you to speak about more topics than ever before. With pluperfect subjunctive phrases, you can express subjectivity about an action or occurrence in the past. With pluperfect conditional phrases, you can build on that by expressing what might potentially happen in a situation. Combining the building blocks of grammar empowers you to form new and complex phrases. Imagine how it improves your storytelling abilities! Pluperfect phrases are perfect examples of Spanish for advanced language learners - grammar rules that expand your ability to communicate.