Unit 14: Future and conditional perfect tenses, translation considerations (part 4)
14.5 Conditional Perfect Tense and Conditional Perfect of Probability
The conditional perfect tense is formed by the conditional tense of the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle:
| traer | traducción | |
|---|---|---|
| yo | habría traído | I would have brought |
| tú | habrías traído | you (fam.) would have brought |
| él, ella, Ud. | habría traído | he, she, you (form.) would have brought |
| nosotros | habríamos traído | we would have brought |
| vosotros | habríais traído | you (fam. pl.) would have brought |
| ellos, ellas, Uds. | habrían traído | they, you (form. pl. [fam. pl. in L.A.] would have brought |
The conditional perfect tense is used largely as it is in English. It indicates what someone would or would not have done in a past moment. See the following examples in context:
| Yo no habría hecho aquello. | I wouldn’t have done that. |
| Conrado no habría dicho eso. | Conrado wouldn’t have said that. |
As the conditional tense expresses probability or conjecture in the (simple) past moment, so does the conditional perfect tense express probability in the past perfect moment. You should pay special attention to this non-systemic use of the four tenses used to express probability and to avoid confusion among them, as well as with the literal (systemic) meaning of the tenses. In the compound tenses, the meaning is “perfected” or compounded from the simple (one-word) tense. Study the following chart to see the parallels:
| Tense + Probability | = Meaning (Time Frame) |
|---|---|
| future | present |
| future perfect | present perfect |
| conditional | (simple) past |
| conditional perfect | past perfect |
See all four tenses below and note their translations:
Future of Probability
| ¿Quién será? | Who do you think it is? |
Conditional of Probability
| ¿Quién sería? | Who do (did) you think it was? |
Future Perfect of Probability
| ¿Quién habrá sido? | Who do you think it has been? |
Conditional Perfect of Probability
| ¿Quién habría sido? | Who did you think it had been? |
See also the four compound indicative tenses that you have studied and their basic meanings (not those of probability), to be sure that you can distinguish between them:
| he visto | I have seen |
| había visto | I had seen |
| habré visto | I will have seen |
| habría visto | I would have seen |
