[Rusty]

I suppose you are asking how to say, "I warmed up before you arrived."
The main verb 'warmed' is conjugated in the preterit tense.

Switching the main verb to the past perfect tense gives us, "I had warmed up before you arrived."

You chose the correct Spanish verb (calentarse), but provided a past perfect translation of a preterit tense in your first example. And you should have used the past perfect tense in your second example, when asking if it meant the same thing.

Depending on where you live in the English-speaking world, you might get two different answers. Some don't see any difference. I do, however.

The same goes for the Spanish-speaking world. Some wouldn't see any difference, but I do.

Either tense is valid, but it depends on where you live which meaning it has.



The imperfect tense is usually used to set the stage for another action that happened in the past (preterit tense).

Me calentaba cuando llegaste.
I was warming up when you arrived. (on-going, repeated, or habitual action)

Me había calentado cuando llegaste.
I had warmed up when you arrived. (on-going, repeated, or habitual action)

Me hube calentado cuando llegaste.
I had warmed up when you arrived. (action completed)

Me calenté cuando llegaste.
I warmed up when you arrived. (action completed)

Now, let's change the event in the secondary clause to something that hasn't happened yet (an anticipated event).
First off, since the subject is changing, we need a conjunction instead of a preposition.
(The preposition 'antes de' needs to become 'antes de que'.)
And, since the event hasn't happened yet, it needs to be cast in the subjunctive mood instead of the indicative. The past tense form of the verb in the secondary clause will be in the same past tense form that was used in the primary clause.

Me había calentado antes de que hubieras llegado.
I had warmed up before you had arrived.

Me calenté antes de que llegaras.
I warmed up before you arrived.