"Past perfect"/"past pluscam perfect"?
What is the difference between these two tenses, (besides conjugation) and how are they used? Help please!
2 Answers
The difference may just be one of terminology.
In Spanish, the term pretérito pluscoamperfecto (sometimes referred to as antecopretérito) is derived from the Latin "Plus quam perfectum (more than perfect)" and is used the same way as the English past perfect (also referred to as the past pluperfect). That is, it is used to describe a situation in the past that has occurred prior to some other situation or event in the past. To sum up, each of the terms listed below refers to the exact same tense:
| SPANISH | ENGLISH | |
| pretérito pluscoamperfecto | >>> | past pluperfect |
| ? ? ? ? ? ? | ? ? ? ? ? | |
| antecopretérito | >>> | past perfect |
If English is your first language, then you are likely already familiar with such usage:
| ENGLISH | He had left already | when you came over |
| past perfect | ||
| SPANISH | Ya había salido | cuando veniste |
| past perfect |
Could you give some examples so we are clear as to what tenses you mean since you are mixing English and Spanish terms.
In English the past perfect is: Had+past participle of the verb. (e.g. had spoken)
In Spanish there is a pluscumperfecto in both the indicative and subjunctive mood. (e.g.) Había hablado and hubiera hablado. Spanish also has a preterite perfect (e.g. hubo hablado) which might be closer to English's past perfect than the pluscuamperfecto.
Your question has no simple answer. I would suggest that you look at the various uses of the English past perfect (especially the timelines) here and compare them to the timelines for the Spanish tenses.
For example:
You might wish to use the pretérito anterior (hubo hablado). But since the Preterite Perfect tense isn't used much any more except in conjunction with certain verbs and phrases you will probably use the pluscuamperfecto instead.
So unless you just want the "they are both the Had+past participle" tense of the verb, your question is too broad and needs to be narrowed
The reason that I suggested examples is, I suspect that you are asking about the difference between the pluscuamperfecto (había hablado) vs the pretérito anterior (hubo hablado), but you using the English term Past Perfect which has ambiguous meaning in Spanish.
