Advanced Spanish Grammar

Present Perfect Subjunctive

Formation: Use the present subjunctive of the verb haber and the past participle.
Haber
Yo haya Nosotros hayamos
Tú hayas + past participle
Él, ella, Ud. haya Ellos(as), Uds. hayan

Examples: Yo dudo que hayas estudiado hoy: I doubt that you have studied today.
Yo quiero que hayas preparado la comida: I want you to have prepared the food.
Dudan que nosotros hayamos escrito la carta: They doubt that we have written the letter.
*Whereas the present subjunctive is used to refer to events that may occur either at the same time as or after the action of the
main verb, the present perfect subjunctive refers to actions or situations that may have occurred before the action of the
main verb.
When do you use the present perfect subjunctive? When:
(1) The main verb is in the present, future, present perfect, or command form, and
(2) The action of the verb in the subjunctive is expected to have taken place before the action of the main verb.

Pluperfect Subjunctive

Formation: Use the imperfect subjunctive of haber and the past participle of a verb.
Haber
Yo hubiera Nosotros hubiéramos
Tú hubieras + past participle
Él, ella, Ud. hubiera Ellos(as), Uds. hubieran

Examples: El entrenador quería que nosotros hubiéramos corrido tres millas antes del comienzo del partido:
The trainer wanted us to have run 3 miles before the beginning of the game.
When do you use the pluperfect subjunctive? When:
(1) The main verb is in the past (preterite, imperfect, or pluperfect), or the conditional tense, and
(2) The action of the main verb in the subjunctive is expected to have taken place before that of the main verb.

The Subjunctive with Como Si and Ojalá que
-Since the expression como si (as if) always refers to something that is contrary to fact, it must always be followed by the subjunctive.
-Only the imperfect subjunctive and the pluperfect subjunctive can be used with como si.
-Note the difference between the following examples:
(1) Mateo duerme como si trabajara mucho: Mateo always sleeps as if he worked a lot (but he does not).
(2) Elena duerme como si hubiera trabajado mucho: Elena sleeps as if she had worked a lot (but she did not).
(3) Julio y Rosa se visten como si no hiciera frío: Julio and Rosa dress as if it were not cold (but it is).
-The present subjunctive follows ojalá que when one is hoping for something to happen now or in the future.
(1) ¡Ojalá que haga buen tiempo! I hope that the weather is good! (It may or may not be good)
-The present perfect subjunctive follows ojalá que when one is hoping something to have happened in the past.
(1) ¡Ojalá que haya hecho buen tiempo! I hope that the weather was good! (It may or may not have been good)
-The imperfect subjunctive follows ojalá que when one is hoping for something contrary to fact in the present (or something that
one does not really expect to become part of reality).
(1) ¡Ojalá que hiciera buen tiempo hoy! I wish that the weather were good today! (but it is not, or I don’t expect it to be)
-The pluperfect subjunctive follows ojalá que when one is hoping for something contrary to fact in the past or one does not really
really expect it to have been true.
(1) ¡Ojalá que hubieran practicado! I wish that they had practiced! (but they did not, or I do not expect them to have)
*When you are using the present subjunctive & the present perfect subjunctive with ojalá que, your wishes may (or may not) come
true.
** When you are using the imperfect subjunctive or the pluperfect subjunctive with ojalá que, you already know that what you are
wishing for is not part of reality (or you do not expect it to have been part of reality).