Spanish Conditional Perfect – Learn and Practice

Welcome 😊 to our grammar lesson on the Spanish Conditional Perfect (“Condicional Perfecto”).

We use the Conditional Perfect to express something that would have happened, if only a condition had been met (but it wasn’t).

A sentence with a verb in Spanish Conditional Perfect
A sentence with a verb in Conditional Perfect (in green)

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to conjugate verbs in Conditional Perfect and use them in sentences.

You will also find a Quiz and Exercises to practice.

Conjugation of verbs in Conditional Perfect

The formula to form the Conditional Perfect consists of 2 words:

  • First, the verb haber in Conditional Tense: habría, habrías, habría, habríamos, habríais, habrían.
  • Second, the Past Participle of the verb expressing the action. The Past Participle is the same for all persons.


Using that formula, here are some verbs conjugated in Conditional Perfect. These particular verbs have a regular Past Participle:

jugar

to play

beber

to drink

sentir

to feel

yohabría jugadohabría bebidohabría sentido
habrías jugadohabrías bebidohabrías sentido
élhabría jugadohabría bebidohabría sentido
nosotroshabríamos jugadohabríamos bebidohabríamos sentido
vosotroshabríais jugadohabríais bebidohabríais sentido
elloshabrían jugadohabrían bebidohabrían sentido


And here are a couple more verbs conjugated in Conditional Perfect. These are verbs with an irregular Past Participle:

hacer

to do

ver

to see

yohabría hechohabría visto
habrías hechohabrías visto
élhabría hechohabría visto
nosotroshabríamos hechohabríamos visto
vosotroshabríais hechohabríais visto
elloshabrían hechohabrían visto

Remember…

The Past Participle of regular verbs in -ar ends in -ado.
The Past Participle of regular verbs in -er and -ir ends in -ido.

Some verbs have an irregular Past Participle. The most important irregular ones are:

hacer → hecho
decir → dicho
ver → visto
escribir → escrito
romper → roto
poner → puesto
volver → vuelto
resolver → resuelto
satisfacer → satisfecho
descubrir → descubierto
morir → muerto

Click here to learn more about the Past Participle

Use of the Conditional Perfect

We use the Conditional Perfect to talk about something that would have happened, if only a condition had been met (but it wasn’t).

The condition is expressed in another tense called Past Perfect Subjunctive (Click here to learn thats tense), and what would have happened then is expressed in Conditional Perfect:

Si yo hubiera estudiado más, habría aprobado el examen.
If I had studied more, I would have passed the exam.

Si hubiésemos hecho las tareas, habríamos impresionado a nuestro profesor.
If we had done the homework, we would have impressed our teacher.

Marta habría organizado la fiesta si hubiera tenido tiempo.
Marta would have organized the party if she had had time.

Si los jugadores hubiesen entrenado más duro, habrían ganado el partido.
If the players had trained harder, they would have won the game.

Si lo hubiera sabido, habría actuado de otra forma.
If had known, I would have acted differently.

Practice

Quiz

Take this short Quiz about the Conditional Perfect:


Exercise 1

Conjugate the following verbs in Conditional Perfect. Click on the gray spaces to see the solutions:

1) yo habría salido (salir)
2) tú habrías bebido (beber)
3) él habría amado (amar)
4) nosotros habríamos hecho (hacer)
5) vosotros habríais visto (ver)
6) ellos habrían dicho (decir)

Exercise 2

A man talks about stuff he and other people would have done differently, if only they had been smarter.

Fill the gaps with the Conditional Perfect of the verbs in brackets:

Si hubiéramos sido más inteligentes…
If we had been smarter …

1) … yo no habría comprado aquel coche de segunda mano. (comprar)
I wouldn’t have bought that second-hand car.

2) … mis amigos habrían llevado ropa de abrigo en su viaje a Rusia. (llevar)
my friends would have taken warm clothes on their trip to Russia.

3) … nosotros no habríamos visto esa peli tan mala. (ver)
we would not have watched that bad movie.

4) … hay muchas cosas que yo no habría dicho en momentos de nerviosismo. (decir)
there are many things I would not have said in moments of nervousness.