Severn Spanish

Si clauses (Adv.)

 

Introduction

Please make sure you are familiar with the conditional, imperfect subjunctive, conditional perfect, pluperfect subjunctive, and basic si clauses.

 

Si clauses with perfect tenses

You are by now familiar with the basic construction of a sentence involving a si clause:

Si tuviera dinero, viajaría a Madrid.

This phenomenon occurs in English, as well: "If I were to have money, I would go to Madrid." And we can now extend its application to perfect tenses, specifically the conditional perfect and pluperfect subjunctive. As a brief refresher:

conditional perfect = conditional form of haber + past participle (-ado/-ido form)

pluperfect subjunctive = imperfect subjunctive form of haber + past participle (-ado/-ido form)

Let's take a look at an example before giving the English equivalent. The formula for si clauses with perfect tenses is the same as for si clauses with simple tenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we put the two clauses in the above example together, we end up with either Si yo hubiera tenido dinero, habría viajado a Madrid, or Habría viajado a Madrid si hubiera tenido dinero (remember that the order of the clauses does not matter as long as the si remains attached to the subjunctive clause). These sentences translate to "If I had had money, I would have traveled to Madrid," and "I would have traveled to Madrid if I had had the money," respectively.