The conditional perfect, habría with a participle, tells what never happened, supposes a past event and marks what came earlier: habría salido. The unreal condition in the past takes hubiera with a participle, and its result takes habría with a participle: Si hubiera salido antes, habría llegado a tiempo.
No information at the current level. This view starts at B2: choose B2 or a higher level.
No information at the current level. This view starts at B2: choose B2 or a higher level.
CheatsheetB2–C2
| Point | Rule | Example | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | habría / habrías / habríamos / habrían + past participle | Yo habría hecho lo mismo. | I would have done the same. | B2 |
| Unreal condition | si hubiera + participle, habría + participle | Si hubiera podido, habría ido. | If I had been able to, I would have gone. | B2 |
| Wish or advice | without the condition, says what one would have done | Yo habría llamado al médico. | I would have called the doctor. | B2 |
| Conjecture | supposes an event earlier than another past event | La luz estaba apagada: habrían salido. | The light was off: they must have gone out. | B2 |
| Reported speech | the future perfect of direct speech, reported from the past | Dijo que para el viernes habría terminado. | He said that he would have finished by Friday. | B2 |
| Reproach | habrías podido or deberías with a compound infinitive | Habrías podido avisarme. | You could have warned me. | B2 |
| Objection, contrast | grants what is supposed and contradicts it, or contrasts two people | Habría estudiado mucho, pero no se notó. / A ti te habría dado igual, pero a mí no. | He may have studied a lot, but it didn't show. / It might have made no difference to you, but it did to me. | C1 |
| Fear, warning | warns of what could have happened | ¡Qué susto! Te habrías roto una pierna. | What a fright! You could have broken a leg. | C2 |
| Press | presents an earlier event as unconfirmed | El incendio se habría iniciado de madrugada. | The fire is said to have started in the early hours. | C2 |
| Sequence | habrá terminado → habría terminado / ha terminado → había terminado | Dice que ha terminado. / Dijo que había terminado. | He says he has finished. / He said he had finished. | C2 |
| Trap | si takes hubiera, not habría | Si hubiera sabido, habría venido. | If I had known, I would have come. | B2 |
| Trap | the pronoun goes before habría | Yo lo habría comprado. | I would have bought it. | B2 |
OverviewB2
- It is formed with habría and the participle; it presents a past event as unreal, supposed or earlier. Con más tiempo, habríamos visto el museo.With more time, we would have seen the museum.
- Grammars also call it condicional perfecto or antepospretérito.
- The helper and the participle work as in Past Perfect.
- Sentences with si are explained in Conditional Sentences; reported speech in Reported Speech and Passive se.
Form: habría and the participleB2
| Person | haber | hablar | comer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | habría | habría hablado | habría comido | B2 |
| tú | habrías | habrías hablado | habrías comido | B2 |
| él / ella / usted | habría | habría hablado | habría comido | B2 |
| nosotros / nosotras | habríamos | habríamos hablado | habríamos comido | B2 |
| vosotros / vosotrasSpain | habríais | habríais hablado | habríais comido | B2 |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | habrían | habrían hablado | habrían comido | B2 |
- habría is the conditional of haber, with the irregular stem habr-.
- Irregular participles stay the same: hecho, dicho, visto, puesto. Yo habría hecho lo mismo. / Ella lo habría dicho antes.I would have done the same. / She would have said it earlier.
- Pronouns and no go before habría, and nothing goes between habría and the participle: Yo no se lo habría dicho. / ¿Te habría gustado venir?I wouldn't have told him. / Would you have liked to come?
UseB2–C2
| Use | Example | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The result of an unreal condition in the past | Si hubiera podido, habría ido. / Si no hubiera llovido, habríamos salido al campo. | If I had been able to, I would have gone. / If it hadn't rained, we would have gone out to the countryside. | B2 |
| A wish or a suggestion about the past, without the condition | Con ese calor, me habría tomado un helado. / Yo habría llamado al médico antes. | In that heat, I would have had an ice cream. / I would have called the doctor earlier. | B2 |
| A reproach for what was not done | Habrías podido avisarme. / Deberías haberme llamado. | You could have warned me. / You should have called me. | B2 |
| A conjecture about an event earlier than another past event | Nadie contestó: habrían salido de casa. / Ayer no vino a clase: habría tenido algún problema. | Nobody answered: they must have left the house. / He didn't come to class yesterday: he must have had some problem. | B2 |
| The future perfect of direct speech, reported from the past | Dijo que para el viernes habría terminado el informe. / Creíamos que a esa hora ya habríamos llegado. | He said that he would have finished the report by Friday. / We thought that by that time we would already have arrived. | B2 |
| An objection: what is supposed is granted and pero contradicts it | Habría estudiado mucho, pero no se notó en el examen. / Habrían trabajado mucho, pero el resultado no lo muestra. | He may have studied a lot, but it didn't show in the exam. / They may have worked a lot, but the result doesn't show it. | C1 |
| A contrast between two people facing the same past event | A ti te habría dado igual, pero a mí no. / Otros habrían protestado, pero yo me callé. | It might have made no difference to you, but it did to me. / Others would have protested, but I kept quiet. | C1 |
| A fear or a warning about what could have happened | ¡Qué susto! Te habrías roto una pierna. / Callé: ¿no habrías pensado que fui yo? | What a fright! You could have broken a leg. / I kept quiet: wouldn't you have thought it was me? | C2 |
| The journalistic conditional: presents an earlier event as unconfirmed | El incendio se habría iniciado a las tres de la madrugada. / Según la policía, los ladrones habrían entrado por el patio. | The fire is said to have started at three in the morning. / According to the police, the burglars are said to have entered through the patio. | C2 |
C2
- The journalistic conditional belongs to the press; in conversation people use según with the indicative. Según la policía, los ladrones entraron por el patio.According to the police, the burglars entered through the patio.
Compare: the sequence of tensesC2
| Relation | From the present | From the past | |
|---|---|---|---|
| posteriority | Dice que terminará el viernes.He says he will finish on Friday. | Dijo que terminaría el viernes.He said he would finish on Friday. | C2 |
| anteriority to a later moment | Dice que para el viernes habrá terminado.He says he will have finished by Friday. | Dijo que para el viernes habría terminado.He said he would have finished by Friday. | C2 |
| anteriority to the moment of reference | Dice que ha terminado.He says he has finished. | Dijo que había terminado.He said he had finished. | C2 |
| simultaneous conjecture | Ahora serán las diez.It must be ten o'clock now. | Entonces serían las diez.It must have been ten o'clock then. | C2 |
| earlier conjecture | Ya habrán salido.They must have left by now. | Ya habrían salido.They must have left by then. | C2 |
Typical errorsB2
| Wrong | Right | Rule | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Si habría podido, habría ido. | Si hubiera podido, habría ido. | the condition with si takes hubiera with a participle, not habría | B2 |
| Dijo que habrá terminado para el viernes. | Dijo que habría terminado para el viernes. | after a verb in the past, the future perfect becomes the conditional perfect | B2 |
| Yo habría lo comprado. | Yo lo habría comprado. | the pronoun goes before habría | B2 |
| Yo habría ponido la mesa. | Yo habría puesto la mesa. | irregular participle: poner → puesto | B2 |
| Deberías llamarme ayer. | Deberías haberme llamado ayer. | a reproach about a past event takes the compound infinitive | B2 |