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The Conditional Perfect Tense in Spanish is a great tense to learn if you have already got knowledge of the Conditional Tense (I would work/see/go etc) and the Present Perfect Tense (I have worked/seen/gone etc) because we use the Conditional Prefect Tense to talk about what we would have done.

For example: I would have finished the decorating but I ran out of time.

If you haven’t studied these tenses yet it is probably worth taking a look at them first. You can find more about them here:

• The Conditional Tense
• The Present Perfect Tense

Assuming you do have some knowledge of these two tenses, lets get started on the Conditional Perfect Tense in Spanish!

To form the Conditional Perfect Tense:

HABER in the Conditional formation	Past Participle
(Yo) Habría (Tú) Habrías (Él/ella/usted) Habría (Nosotros/as) Habríamos (Vosotros/as) Habríais (Ellos/ellas/ustedes) Habrían	ganado / comido / decidido

I.e.

• (Yo) habría comido un postre. (I would have eaten a pudding.)
• (Tú) habrías ganado el partido. (You would have won the match.)
• (Vosotros) habríais decidido salir (All of you would have decided to go out).

Es así de sencillo (It’s as easy as that)

Why not try some of these activities to build your confidence when using the Conditional Perfect Tense with regular past participles. Then, once you are feeling ready, have a look at the Conditional Perfect Tense with irregular past participles.

Let’s get to know the Conditional Perfect Tense with irregular past participles.

The great thing about learning the Conditional Perfect Tense (I would have tried etc) after you already have some knowledge of one of the other Perfect Tenses, i.e. The Present Perfect Tense (I have tried etc) is that the irregular past participles are exactly the same.

Here are the irregular past participles with the some Conditional Perfect Tense examples:

English Infinitive	Spanish Infinitive	Spanish Past Participle	Example
To break	romper	roto	Yo habría roto el plato.- I would have broken the plate.
To say/tell	decir	dicho	¿Le habrías dicho la respuesta?- Would you have told her the answer?
To see	ver	visto	Él habría visto el accidente.- He would have seen the accident.
To open	abrir	abierto	Habríamos abierto tu regalo primero.- We would have opened your present first.
To do/make	hacer	hecho	¿Habríais hecho el reportaje para martes?- Would you all have done the report by Tuesday?
To die	morir	muerto	Habrían muerto los insectos.- The insects would have died.
To write	escribir	escrito	Yo habría escrito una historia divertida.- I would have written a funny story.
To put	poner	puesto	¿Habrías puesto tu chaqueta en el armario?- Would you have put your jacket in the wardrobe?
To cover	cubrir	cubierto	Ella habría cubierto los muebles.- She would have covered the furniture.
To return	volver	vuelto	Habríamos vuelto en verano.- We would have returned in summer.
To fry	freír	frito	¿Ya habríais frito las cebollas?- Would you lot have fried the onions already?
To satisfy	satisfacer	satisfecho	Habrían satisfecho a los empleados.- They would have satisfied the employees.

If you fancy a bit of practice using the Conditional Perfect, with irregular past participles, here you go:

And that’s it!

Using your prior knowledge of the Conditional Tense (I would buy etc) and the Present Perfect Tense (I have bought etc) you can put them together to learn the Conditional Perfect Tense (I would have bought etc) in no time at all.

Now… If you are eager to learn more, why not take a shot at one of the other Perfect tenses?

There are 4 in total, so if you are feeling good about the Conditional Perfect Tense and assuming you are pretty confident with the Present Perfect Tense, you could try out one of the others below:

• I had finished. (Past perfect/AKA Pluperfect)- Find out more here.
• I will have finished. (Future Perfect)- Find out more here.

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