1. Present and Pluperfect Subjunctive

2. Present Perfect Subjunctive
Remember how the present perfect indicative is the present (indicative) of “haber” + the past participle? Well, the present perfect subjunctive is the present subjunctive of “haber” (which, like the present indicative of “haber,” is irregular) + the past participle:
haya hablado hayamos hablado
hayas hablado hayáis hablado
haya hablado hayan hablado

3. ha hablado he has spoken haya hablado he has spoken
As you might expect, the present perfect subjunctive translates just like the present perfect indicative:
ha hablado he has spoken
haya hablado he has spoken
You use the present perfect subjunctive whenever you need the subjunctive:
Sabemos que Juan ha comido. – We know that Juan has eaten.
Dudamos que Juan haya comido. – We doubt that Juan has
eaten.

4. Pluperfect (Past Perfect) Subjunctive
The past perfect subjunctive is the past (imperfect) subjunctive of “haber” + the past participle. Remember that the way you get the past (imperfect) subjunctive root is to go to the third person plural of the preterit. The preterit of “haber” is “hubieron.”
hubiera hablado hubiéramos hablado
hubieras hablado hubierais hablado
hubiera hablado hubieran hablado

5. había hablado he had spoken hubiera hablado he had spoken
The pluperfect subjunctive translates the same way the pluperfect indicative does:
había hablado he had spoken
hubiera hablado he had spoken
You use the pluperfect subjunctive whenever you need the subjunctive rather than the indicative:
Sabíamos que había comido. – We knew that he had eaten.
Dudábamos que hubiera comido. – We doubted that he
had eaten.

6. Click here to go to a brief practice exercise.