Which version would you hear in a conversation in Lima?

Si me hubieras llamado, te hubiera contestado.

Si me hubieses llamado, te habría contestado.

Si me habrías llamado, te habrías contestado.

Si me llamarías, te contestaría.

Hubiera and hubiese: the pluperfect subjunctive

Short answer

The pluperfect subjunctive is hubiera or hubiese plus a participle — both forms are correct and mean the same thing. It covers the past that did not happen: si hubiera sabido. In Peru it also replaces the conditional perfect in speech, so hubiera ido stands where a book prints habría ido.

Course · Unit: Subjunctive CEFR C1 Reviewed by Jhoslyn Updated 2026-09-12

Draft copy. Every claim needs a native-speaker check before publishing — the byline is what makes this citable, so it has to be earned.

Two spellings, one tense

Haber in the past subjunctive, plus a participle. The -ra and -se endings are interchangeable and neither is more correct:

		+ participle
yo	hubiera / hubiese	hablado
tú	hubieras / hubieses	comido
él / ella / usted	hubiera / hubiese	vivido
nosotros	hubiéramos / hubiésemos	hecho
ustedes / ellos	hubieran / hubiesen	dicho

In Peru you will hear hubiera almost all the time. Hubiese turns up in writing, in speeches and in older speakers. Pick hubiera and you will sound normal everywhere.

Watch the accent on hubiéramos and hubiésemos — it is on the third syllable from the end and it is not optional.

Job one: the past that did not happen

The si half of an impossible conditional:

Si hubiera sabido, te habría avisado.
Si no hubiéramos perdido el vuelo, ya estaríamos en Cusco.
Si me hubieran ofrecido café, lo habría aceptado.

The other half normally takes the conditional perfect (habría avisado) when the consequence is also in the past, or the simple conditional (estaríamos) when it lands in the present.

It also does this without si, after como si:

Me habló como si no me hubiera visto nunca.

Job two: feelings about something already over

A past trigger, and an action earlier still:

Me alegró que hubieras venido.
Me extrañó que no hubiese terminado el trabajo.
No creí que Arturo ya hubiera llegado cuando me llamaste.
Dudo que hubiera sido tan fácil como dices.

And regret, which is where most learners meet it first:

Ojalá hubiera estudiado más.
Si tan solo lo hubiéramos sabido antes.

In Peru it also does the conditional perfect’s job

Textbooks give the pattern si hubiera…, habría…. Peruvian speech very often puts hubiera on both sides:

Si hubiera sabido, hubiera ido. — where a grammar would print habría ido.

This is not sloppy speech and it is not confined to Peru; it is accepted across much of Latin America and by the Real Academia. It is, however, the spoken form. In an email, a report or an exam, keep habría in the result half:

Spoken in Lima	Written
Si me hubieras llamado, te hubiera contestado.	Si me hubieras llamado, te habría contestado.
Yo hubiera hecho lo mismo.	Yo habría hecho lo mismo.

Standing alone: the “should have” use

Drop the si clause entirely and hubiera becomes a reproach or a suggestion about the past. This is extremely common and no textbook prepares you for it:

Hubieras venido. — You should have come.
Me hubieras dicho. — You should have told me. (Often: ¡me hubieras dicho, pues!)
Hubiéramos ido más temprano. — We should have gone earlier.
Lo hubieras llamado ayer. — You should have called him yesterday.

The tone is mild and everyday — mild regret or gentle telling-off, not outrage. If somebody says me hubieras avisado, you have been nudged, not scolded.

Where it sits among the four

Trigger	Action still open	Action finished
Present — espero que	vengas	hayas venido
Past — esperaba que	vinieras	hubieras venido

Past trigger, earlier action. That is its slot.

Try it

If I had known, I would have told you.
You should have called me.
I was glad you’d come.
He talks as if he’d never seen it.

→ 1 Si hubiera sabido, te habría dicho — and in speech, te hubiera dicho. · 2 Me hubieras llamado. · 3 Me alegró que hubieras venido. · 4 Habla como si nunca lo hubiera visto.

→ The three Spanish conditionals side by side → Unreal conditionals → The past perfect: había + participle

Topics Subjunctive Conditionals Peruvian Spanish

Hubiera — the past that never happened

Regret, impossible conditions, and the bare hubieras that means you should have. Seven sentences, two of them about how Lima actually says it.

1Si ___ sabido, te habría avisado.
Answer

hubiera — The *si* half of an impossible conditional takes the pluperfect subjunctive. *Si habría* and *si haya* are both impossible after *si*, in any sentence.
2A friend didn't tell you something important. Mildly, you say:
Answer

Me hubieras dicho. — A bare *hubieras* plus a participle means “you should have”. The tone is a nudge rather than a telling-off, and it is everywhere in Peru.
3Me alegró que ___ a la fiesta.
Answer

hubieras venido — *Me alegró* is in the past, so the subjunctive follows it back. A past trigger about something earlier still gives *hubieras venido*.
4Which version would you hear in a conversation in Lima?
Answer

Si me hubieras llamado, te hubiera contestado. — Peruvian speech very often puts *hubiera* on both sides. The first option is the written version and also correct; the other two put a conditional after *si*, which never happens.
5Me habló ___ no me hubiera visto nunca.
Answer

como si — *Como si* always takes the past or the pluperfect subjunctive. *Como si no me viera* would be about now; *hubiera visto* pushes it further back.
6Which is spelt correctly?
Answer

hubiéramos ido — The stress falls on the third syllable from the end and has to be written: *hubiéramos*, *hubiésemos*. Without the accent the word is read wrongly.
7Si no hubiéramos perdido el vuelo, ya ___ en Cusco.
Answer

estaríamos — The cause is in the impossible past but the consequence is about right now, so the simple conditional. *Habríamos estado* would put the consequence back in the past.