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

Image of sobrevenir conjugation in Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A
sobrevenir means: to ensue

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

yohubiera sobrevenidoI had come
hubieras sobrevenidoyou had come
él/ella/ustedhubiera sobrevenidohe/she/it had come
nosotros/nosotrashubiéramos sobrevenidowe had come
vosotros/vosotrashubierais sobrevenidoyou had come
ellos/ellas/ustedeshubieran sobrevenidothey had come

How to translate Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A to English

Notice that the English phrases in the third column of the above conjugation chart 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

This verb conjugates exactly as venir with sobre- added in front of every formImage of like sobre + venir
Image of Compound Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A is a compound tense (Spanish: compuesto). It means that all of its inflected forms consist of two words. In Spanish language, there are also simple tenses, where each inflected verb form is one word long.

A compound tense is indicated by the ending of the auxiliary verb, not by the ending 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 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
See the conjugation charts to learn how to conjugate the auxiliary verb haber. That’s a separate topic, so for brevity we’re focusing on the parts derived from sobrevenir 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 have to start by splitting the infinitive into a stem and an ending. It’s easy to do – simply 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 our verb:
  • the stem is: sobreven-
  • and the ending is: -ir
Image of sobreven ir
Image of -ido Based on the ending of the infinitive we can tell that sobrevenir 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: sobrevenido.

And now, as we understand how both parts used by this tense are created separately, we can proceed with creating the final conjugation forms.
In order to create the first person singular form, we simply 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 sobrevenido to get hubiera sobrevenido:
  • yo hubiera sobrevenido


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 Subjuntivo A tense, and it is hubieras. And to this auxiliary verb we add the Participio sobrevenido (so the exact same word as previously) to get hubieras sobrevenido:
  • tú hubieras sobrevenido
Image of Conjugate haber in Pretérito Imperfecto A ...
Image of ... create a common Participle ...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 sobrevenido:
  • él hubiera sobrevenido
  • ella hubiera sobrevenido
  • usted hubiera sobrevenido


The first person plural has the form hubiéramos sobrevenido. 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 sobrevenir: sobrevenido to get hubiéramos sobrevenido:
  • nosotros hubiéramos sobrevenido
  • nosotras hubiéramos sobrevenido
Again, let’s do the same for the second person plural. We need to get the inflected 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 sobrevenido:
  • vosotros hubierais sobrevenido
  • vosotras hubierais sobrevenido


And finally, the last grammatical person on the list, the third person plural, has the form hubieran sobrevenido. 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 sobrevenir again (sobrevenido) to get hubieran sobrevenido:
  • ellos hubieran sobrevenido
  • ellas hubieran sobrevenido
  • ustedes hubieran sobrevenido
Image of ... join them into a compound form

That’s it! The conjugation is now complete. 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 skills 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 sobrevenir visit our Exercise section
  • To see conjugation charts in all tenses for sobrevenir visit the Conjugator
  • To explore other learning materials visit the Study section


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