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Learn gustar conjugation in Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A step by step with detailed explanations

Image of gustar conjugation in Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A
gustar means: to be pleasing to somebody/something, to please, to like

In this lesson we are going to learn how to conjugate the verb gustar in the Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A tense of the Subjuntivo mood. It means we will see step by step how to get the following conjugation:

yohubiera gustadoI had been pleasing to somebody/something
hubieras gustadoyou had been pleasing to somebody/something
él/ella/ustedhubiera gustadohe/she/it had been pleasing to somebody/something
nosotros/nosotrashubiéramos gustadowe had been pleasing to somebody/something
vosotros/vosotrashubierais gustadoyou had been pleasing to somebody/something
ellos/ellas/ustedeshubieran gustadothey had been pleasing to somebody/something

How to translate Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A to English

Note that the phrases in English in the third column of the above conjugation table are not direct translations from Spanish to English. They are usually the closest general equivalents. The example differences are:
  • In Spanish, there is the form usted in the third person singular. But this person does not translate to the English third person singular. It translates to the so called formal you and uses the inflected form which is most often represented as he/she/it in English conjugation charts.
  • Similar situation happens in the third person plural, where ustedes translates to the English plural formal you but uses the form which corresponds to the they form in English.
  • Tenses are used differently in Spanish and English, so the actual translation should always take into account the context and focus on translating the meaning, not just words.
  • In both languages each verb may have multiple meanings and not every meaning translates directly to the other language. Here also, the context and focusing on the particular meaning helps to create the most accurate translation.

Step by step instructions

Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A is a compound tense (Spanish: compuesto). It means that all of its conjugated forms consist of two words. In Spanish language, there are also simple tenses, where each inflected verb form is one word long.

In a compound tense the endings of the auxiliary verb change, not the endings of the main verb, which is the case in Spanish simple tenses.

In the compound tenses, every person’s form consist of two parts:
  • An inflected form of the auxiliary verb haber. In case of the Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo A tense, we use the Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A (Imperfect Subjunctive A) conjugation of haber
  • Past Participle, which is always the same in every compound tense for a given verb
Image of Compound
Image of gust arSee the conjugation charts to learn how to conjugate the auxiliary verb haber. That’s a separate topic, so for brevity we are focusing on the parts derived from gustar only in this lesson.

In order to create the Participio form, we need a stem and an ending. We use the stem of the infinitive of the main verb, and a single ending, which depends on the conjugation group of the main verb. So we begin by splitting the infinitive into a stem and an ending. It’s very easy to do – simply remove two letters from the end of the infinitive form to get the ending – one of -ar, -er, -ir. What’s left is the stem.

So for gustar:
  • the stem is: gust-
  • and the ending is: -ar
Based on the ending of the infinitive we can recognize that gustar belongs to the -ar verb group. This group, in turn, uses the -ado ending in its Participio form. Putting all that together, our Participio is: gustado.

And now, as we understand how both parts used by this tense are created separately, we can move on with creating the final conjugation forms.
Image of -ado
Image of Conjugate haber in Pretérito Imperfecto A ...In order to create the first person singular form, we need to take the first person singular form of haber conjugated in Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A, which is hubiera. And to that we add the Participio gustado to get hubiera gustado:
  • yo hubiera gustado


Next, to create the form for the second person singular, we again simply take the second person singular form of haber from the Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A tense, and that is hubieras. To this auxiliary verb we add the Participio gustado (so the exact same word as previously) to get hubieras gustado:
  • tú hubieras gustado
Similarly, if we want to create the form for the third person singular, we conjugate haber in the Pretérito Imperfecto A tense and we use the corresponding person’s form (third person singular), namely hubiera. Then we also take the same Participio as for all other persons, and putting them together we get hubiera gustado:
  • él hubiera gustado
  • ella hubiera gustado
  • usted hubiera gustado


The first person plural has the form hubiéramos gustado. It’s created by following the same logic as in the other persons. We first take the form of the first person plural from haber conjugation in the Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A tense: hubiéramos. Second, to this word we again add the Participio of gustar: gustado to get hubiéramos gustado:
  • nosotros hubiéramos gustado
  • nosotras hubiéramos gustado
Image of ... create a common Participle ...
Image of ... join them into a compound formAgain, let’s do the same for the second person plural. We have to get the conjugated form of the verb haber in the Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A tense, second person plural, and that’s hubierais. Next, we take our unchanged Participio, we join them, and we get hubierais gustado:
  • vosotros hubierais gustado
  • vosotras hubierais gustado


And finally, the last grammatical person on the list, the third person plural, has the form hubieran gustado. We create it in the exact same manner as in all the other grammatical persons. We need the third person plural of haber first, from its Pretérito Imperfecto A conjugation. It is hubieran. We add the Participio of gustar again (gustado) to get hubieran gustado:
  • ellos hubieran gustado
  • ellas hubieran gustado
  • ustedes hubieran gustado

This is it! The conjugation is now done. But don’t end your session yet – it is very important to repeat and practice the material in order to retain it. Check below for next steps.

Next Steps

  • To practice this conjugation and test your knowledge check this Conjugation Exercise or the Memory Game
  • To see other conjugation lessons for this verb choose another tense:  
  • For exercises and examples related to gustar visit our Exercise section
  • To see conjugation charts in all tenses for gustar visit the Conjugator
  • To explore other learning materials visit the Study section


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