Hearsay conditional, pretérito anterior and distancing

What it is

Press Spanish has a toolkit for saying "this is what we've been told, not what we know". This topic covers three parts of it, plus a literary tense you'll meet in the same kind of prose:

• the condicional de rumor (hearsay or journalistic conditional): El ministro habría renunciado (in Spain also habría dimitido) = the minister has reportedly resigned;
• distancing markers: al parecer, por lo visto, según parece, presuntamente, supuestamente, el presunto autor, según fuentes…;
• the imperfecto citativo (imperfect of distance), common in speech: Al parecer, hoy lo operaban = apparently he's having surgery today;
• the pretérito anterior (past anterior): Apenas hubo terminado, se marchó = no sooner had he finished than he left.

How to form it

The hearsay conditional is the ordinary conditional with a new job: the simple form reports something about the present (or a plan), the compound form something about the past.

The pretérito anterior is the preterite of haber + participle:

It only appears after a conjunction meaning "as soon as" or "after": apenas, en cuanto, no bien, tan pronto como, una vez que and, in older prose, luego que and así que.

The imperfecto citativo uses the ordinary imperfect for something you were told, often about today or tomorrow: ¿No te ibas mañana? Por lo visto, el concierto era el sábado.

When to use it

News. The hearsay conditional lets a journalist pass on a source's claim without asserting it. It usually comes with the source (según la fiscalía, fuentes cercanas al club) and is frequent in headlines and lead paragraphs.

• Según la fiscalía, el alcalde habría desviado fondos públicos.According to the prosecutor's office, the mayor allegedly diverted public funds.past: habría + participle
• Los manifestantes serían más de cien mil, según los organizadores.According to the organisers, the protesters number more than 100,000.present: simple conditional
• El delantero habría firmado ya con un club de Monterrey.The striker has reportedly already signed for a club in Monterrey.sports news, unconfirmed
• El presunto autor del robo fue detenido anoche en Valparaíso.The alleged robber was arrested last night in Valparaíso.presunto = alleged
• Por lo visto, el concierto era mañana, no hoy.Apparently the concert is tomorrow, not today.imperfect of distance
• Apenas hubo firmado el acuerdo, el presidente abandonó la sala.No sooner had he signed the agreement than the president left the room.literary pretérito anterior
• En cuanto firmó el acuerdo, el presidente se fue.As soon as he signed the agreement, the president left.everyday equivalent

Your own writing. Many newspaper style guides advise against the hearsay conditional, as a gallicism and because it can be misread as a hypothesis, yet it appears in the press of every Spanish-speaking country, so you need to read it fluently. When you write, an explicit source is clearer: Según el informe, la empresa ocultó sus pérdidas.

Speech distances with al parecer, por lo visto, dicen que, parece que and the imperfect: Hoy lo operaban, ¿no?

Literary narration uses the pretérito anterior for an event that happens immediately before another in the past. In speech and in most modern writing, the preterite does the job: En cuanto terminó, se fue.

Try it

Five quick exercises from this topic's training set:

Contrasts and traps

• Hearsay, hypothesis or guess? El ministro habría renunciado (news) = he has reportedly resigned. El ministro habría renunciado si lo hubieran presionado = he would have resigned. Cuando llegamos, serían las diez = it was probably about ten (the conditional of probability). A source (según…) points to hearsay; a si-clause, to a hypothesis.
• Only for what is unconfirmed. A confirmed result takes the indicative: El Congreso aprobó ayer la ley, not habría aprobado.
• Pretérito anterior ≠ pluperfect. Apenas hubo terminado, se fue marks immediate succession; Ya había terminado cuando llegaron marks an earlier past, with no idea of "right after". The pretérito anterior never stands alone in a main clause: Había terminado a las seis, not Hubo terminado a las seis.
• Two meanings of apenas. Apenas habló = he hardly spoke. Apenas habló, todos se callaron = as soon as he spoke, everyone went quiet. In Latin America, "as soon as" is everyday speech: Apenas llegues, me avisas.
• Presunto vs supuesto. Presunto is the legal and press term for someone not yet convicted; supuesto can be ironic: el supuesto experto.

For Portuguese speakers

• Positive transfer. The Brazilian press uses the same conditional: os ladrões teriam fugido → los ladrones habrían huido; seriam três → serían tres. The imperfect of distance works the same way too: Você não ia viajar amanhã? → ¿No te ibas mañana?
• Haber, never tener. Teriam fugido is habrían huido; tendrían huido is a calque.
• Apenas is a false friend. Portuguese apenas = only (Spanish solo). Spanish apenas = barely, or as soon as (mal, assim que): Apenas llegó, empezó a llover = Mal ele chegou, começou a chover.
• Presunto is a false friend. In Spanish it means alleged (suposto), not ham (jamón): el presunto ladrón = o suposto ladrão.
• The literary pluperfect. Portuguese fiction writes mal terminara; in Spanish terminara reads as imperfect subjunctive, so write apenas hubo terminado or simply apenas terminó.