Difference between había + past participle and he past participle

Question

I know that the verb haber is used to go into the past tence.

Usually i see the present tense of haber being used before the past participle So for I - He eschuado

But sometimes i see the imperfect being used. For example instead of He Eschuchado

Había escuchado

Is the difference between them that 1 means "I listened" and the other means "I was listening?" That he eschuchado means the action has come to an end while Había escuchado means it is unbroken?

Is Había escuchado the same as eschuchaba?

Thanks

Answer 1

He escuchado - I have listened. Había escuchado - I/he/she HAD listened. There is more to it then that, but that's a good way to start thinking of it.

• He/ha/has/han/hemos - has/have.
• había/habías/habían/habíamos - had

Also había can mean there was etc... haber is very verstatile.

Edit: Michelle Thomas is a good course but he is tricking you if he has you thinking haber always means diving into the past. You can dive into the present with it too.

Edit 2:

Is the difference between them that 1 means "I did not listen" and the other means "I was not listening?" That he eschuchado means the action has come to an end while Había escuchado means it is unbroken?

Is Había escuchado the same as eschuchaba?

In my opinion "he escuchado" means "I have heard" whereas "había escuchado: means "I had heard" whereas escuchaba means "I was listening" (no defined period of time) and escuché = "I listened".

Thanks

Edit 3 - heard and listened can probably be interchanged however here, just the above is how I personally would think of them without any context or sentences to look with.

Edit 4 - Regarding Michel Thomas's idea of an unbroken line:

• Caminé a la escuela ayer a las cuatro.
• Caminaba a la escuela cada día cuando era niño

Now he has nothing to do with the broken line, your choices are

• hube. hubiste, hubo, hibimos, hubieron
• había, habías, habían, habíamos, habían

Broken line: - Hubo un retiro de comida chatarra ayer a las cuatro.

Unbroken line: - Ellos le dijeron que no habían pescado nada. They told him that they hadn't fished at all.

Gracias......

Edit: 5 Although I thought it was clear from context, no they are not exactly the same.

Ah. Some good background knowledge - that i use Michel Thomas, included in the answer. I like that. Thanks - El_Hitch, Sep 11, 2010

Answer 2

To directly answer your question: no, 1 does not mean "I did not listen" and the other does not mean "I was not listening?" Those would be "No escuché/escuchaba" and "No estaba escuchando".

As already mentioned, "había escuchado" means "I had listened" and "he escuchado" means "I have listened". But what do they really mean? They are in fact ways of saying something happened in the past. But they are used in a different context than the preterit and imperfect forms. They imply an action or event that occurred over a period of time and then ended relative to some other point in time. When you use the present perfect (he escuchado), the relative point of time is the present. When you use the pluperfect (había escuchado), the relative point of time is some time in the past.

It can be confusing because when they are used, the context (ie the point of time they are relative to) should also be indicated. But a lot of people don't bother. And to make things even more confusing, some Spanish speakers use the present perfect interchangeably with the preterit.

Answer 3

Tiempos Perfectos de español (de modo indicativo)

Hablar (pp=hablado)

el pretérito perfecto compuesto	he hablado
el pretérito pluscuamperfecto	había hablado
el pertérito anterior (preterite perfect)	hube hablado
el futuro perfecto	habré hablado
el conditional perfecto	habría hablado

pretérito perfecto compuesto vs pretérito pluscaumperfecto (indicativo)