Tell Me, Who Had Not Been Afraid Of Getting Things Wrong?

Introduction

This post is about the practical conjugation of verbs in general and more particularly the pluperfect tense, indicative mood of regular verbs ending in -er.

SCENARIO

Imagine you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You are talking about a significant event in the past and some difficulties in dealing with it. At some point, the other person says to you something like: "tell me, who had not been afraid of getting things wrong?".

In Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say to you:

Dime, ¿quién no había temido equivocarse?

On the other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:

Dígame, ¿quién no había temido equivocarse?

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OUR TIP

The question is an invitation for you to say who had not been afraid of getting things wrong. When stating who had not been afraid of someone or something, you may need to consider different levels of formality in your reply. That will be specifically the case when your answer includes a reference to the person you are talking to. The examples below include cases in which a more or less formal type of answer is required.

Here are some examples of how you could reply:

• Yo no había temido* equivocarme (I had not been afraid of getting things wrong);
• Tú no habías temido* equivocarte, ¿verdad? (you -familiar had not been afraid of getting things wrong, had you?);
• Usted no había temido* equivocarse, ¿verdad? (you -formal had not been afraid of getting things wrong, had you?);
• Pedro no había temido* equivocarse, ¿verdad? (Pedro had not been afraid of getting things wrong, had he?);
• María no había temido* equivocarse, ¿verdad? (María had not been afraid of getting things wrong, had she?);
• Nosotros no habíamos temido* equivocarnos, ¿verdad? (we had not been afraid of getting things wrong, had we?);
• Vosotros no habíais temido* equivocaros, ¿verdad? (you -familiar/ plural had not been afraid of getting things wrong , had you?);
• Ustedes no habían temido* equivocarse, ¿verdad? (you -formal/ plural had not been afraid of getting things wrong, had you?);
• Pedro y María no habían temido* equivocarse, ¿verdad? (Pedro and Maria had not been afraid of getting things wrong, had they?);

Now you should practise replying to someone who says to you:

Dime, ¿quién había temido equivocarse?

*Please see grammar topic below, Verbs

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Verbs

A verb is a 'doing' word which conveys:

• What action takes place in a sentence
• Who does that action
• When that action occurs.

In addition, the verb may also convey the mood or feelings of the speaker toward the action which takes place. The verb may, for example, indicate whether the speaker is stating a fact, expressing a wish or indeed giving an order.

Verb Conjugation

Please see notes on conjugation* at the end of this post.

Indicative Mood-Pluperfect Tense

1. Regular Verbs Ending in -ar

Subject		TRABAJAR (TO WORK)
I	Yo	HABÍA TRABAJADO
You	Tú	HABÍAS TRABAJADO
You	Usted*	HABÍA TRABAJADO
He	Él
She	Ella
We	Nosotros	HABÍAMOS TRABAJADO
You	Vosotros**	HABÍAIS TRABAJADO
You	Ustedes***	HABÍAN TRABAJADO
They	Ellos
They	Ellas

*NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you'

**NB 'You' plural

*** NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural

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2. Regular Verbs Ending in -er

Subject		COMER (TO EAT)
I	Yo	HABÍA COMIDO
You	Tú	HABÍAS COMIDO
You	Usted*	HABÍA COMIDO
He	Él
She	Ella
We	Nosotros	HABÍAMOS COMIDO
You	Vosotros**	HABÍAIS COMIDO
You	Ustedes***	HABÍAN COMIDO
They	Ellos
They	Ellas

*NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you'

**NB 'You' plural

*** NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural

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3. Regular Verbs Ending in -ir

Subject		VIVIR (TO LIVE)
I	Yo	HABÍA VIVIDO
You	Tú	HABÍAS VIVIDO
You	Usted*	HABÍA VIVIDO
He	Él
She	Ella
We	Nosotros	HABÍAMOS VIVIDO
You	Vosotros**	HABÍAIS VIVIDO
You	Ustedes***	HABÍAN VIVIDO
They	Ellos
They	Ellas

*NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you'

**NB 'You' plural

*** NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural

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* Verb Conjugation Notes

It is worth remembering once more that in its basic form (infinitive), a Spanish verb is just a general 'doing' word. In that form, a verb simply indicates an action and nothing else. If we want a verb to be more specific about the action in a sentence, we need to conjugate it. It is only when conjugated that the verb indicates:

• Who does the action
• When the action takes place
• The mood/ attitude of the speaker towards the action

The conjugation tables above refer to using conjugation establish who does the action. What follows below are some notes on establishing when the action takes place and the mood/ attitude of the speaker towards the action.

Subjunctive Mood

The use of subjunctive mood is disappearing English. Nowadays is often viewed as an old and unfashionable form of the language.

In contrast, the use of subjunctive mood is very much alive and in everyday use in Spanish. This widespread use of subjunctive mood tends to be the bane of many a learner of Spanish from the English speaking world.

The concept of subjunctive mood is perhaps best illustrated by contrasting its use against the use of indicative mood with examples in English. The following are a couple of examples which should serve that purpose:

• Indicative mood (“Peter eats an apple”).- Indicative mood is commonly used to make statements of facts or positive beliefs such as this one. As can be seen in the sample sentence (in quotes above), the speaker makes a clear and unambiguous statement of a fact (Peter eats an apple).
• Subjunctive mood (“Peter would eat an apple if he were hungry”).- In contrast with indicative mood, subjunctive mood is commonly used to make statements indicating hypothetical or non-fact actions. As can be seen in the sample sentence (in quotes), in this case the speaker sees the action of eating an apple as something hypothetical, something which may or may not happen (Peter would eat an apple... if he were hungry).

Verb Tenses

Verb tenses relate to setting the time period (when) during which the action of the verb takes place. Basic times (periods) for Spanish verb actions are:

• The past (before now)
• The present (now)
• The future (after now)

Each Spanish verb tense corresponds to one of those basic time periods. In other words choosing a verb tense places the action of the verb in one of those basic periods and determines when the action takes place.

Now you should practise the use of the pluperfect-indicative mood of regular verbs with some examples of your own.

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