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Learn salir conjugation in Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto step by step with detailed explanations

Image of salir conjugation in Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto
salir means: to leave, to go out

In this lesson we will see how to conjugate the verb salir in the Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto tense of the Indicativo mood. It means we will see step by step how to create the following conjugation:

yohabía salidoI had left
habías salidoyou had left
él/ella/ustedhabía salidohe/she/it had left
nosotros/nosotrashabíamos salidowe had left
vosotros/vosotrashabíais salidoyou had left
ellos/ellas/ustedeshabían salidothey had left

How to translate Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto to English

Note that the English phrases 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 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:
  • A conjugated form of the auxiliary verb haber. In case of the Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto de Indicativo tense, we use the Pretérito Imperfecto de Indicativo (Imperfect) conjugation of haber
  • Past Participle, which is always the same in every compound tense for a given verb
Image of Compound
Image of sal irRefer to the conjugation charts and this haber conjugation lesson to learn how to conjugate the auxiliary verb haber. That’s a separate topic, so for brevity we will focus on the parts derived from salir 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 – just remove two letters from the end of the infinitive form and you have the ending – one of -ar, -er, -ir. What’s left is the stem.

So in case of the verb salir it’s easy to see that:
  • the stem is: sal-
  • and the ending is: -ir
Based on the ending of the infinitive we can recognize that salir belongs to the -ir verb group. This group, in turn, uses the -ido ending in its Participio form. Putting all that together, our Participio is: salido.

Now, as we understand how both parts used by this tense are created separately, let’s proceed with creating the final conjugation forms.
Image of -ido
Image of Conjugate haber in Pretérito Imperfecto ...In order to create the first person singular form, we simply take the first person singular form of haber conjugated in Pretérito Imperfecto de Indicativo, which is había. And to that we add the Participio salido to get había salido:
  • yo había salido


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


The first person plural has the form habíamos salido. 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 Indicativo tense: habíamos. Second, to this word we again add the Participio of salir: salido to get habíamos salido:
  • nosotros habíamos salido
  • nosotras habíamos salido
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 Indicativo tense, second person plural, and it is habíais. Next, we take the unchanged Participio, we join them, and we get habíais salido:
  • vosotros habíais salido
  • vosotras habíais salido


And finally, the last grammatical person on the list, the third person plural, has the form habían salido. 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 conjugation. It is habían. We add the Participio of salir again (salido) to get habían salido:
  • ellos habían salido
  • ellas habían salido
  • ustedes habían salido

¡Ya está! The conjugation is now done. But don’t end your session yet – it’s important to repeat and practice the material in order to remember it. Check below for suggestions.

Next Steps

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


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