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The pluperfect tense - Easy Learning Grammar German

What is the pluperfect tense?
The pluperfect is a verb tense which describes something that had happened or had been true at a point in the past, for example, I’d forgotten to finish my homework.

1 Using the pluperfect tense

  • You can often recognize a pluperfect tense in English by a form like I had arrived, you’d fallen.
Sie waren schon weggefahren.They had already left.
Diese Bücher hatten sie schon gelesen.They had already read these books.
Ich hatte mir das neueste iPad-Modell zum Geburtstag gewünscht.I had asked for the latest iPad for my birthday.
  • Note that when translating had done/had been doing in conjunction with seit/seitdem, you use the imperfect tense in German.
Sie machte es seit Jahren.She had been doing it for years.
  • For more information on the Imperfect tense, see The imperfect tense.

2 Forming the pluperfect tense

  • Like the perfect tense, the pluperfect tense in German has two parts to it:
  • the imperfect tense of the verb haben (meaning to have) or sein (meaning to be)
  • the past participle.
  • If a verb takes haben in the perfect tense, then it will take haben in the pluperfect too. If a verb takes sein in the perfect, then it will take sein in the pluperfect.
  • For more information on the Imperfect tense and the Perfect tense, see The imperfect tense and 113.

3 Verbs taking haben

  • Here are the pluperfect tense forms of holen (meaning to fetch) in full.
PronounhabenPast Participle Meanings
ichhattegeholtI had fetched
duhattestgeholtyou had fetched
er
sie
es
hattegeholthe/she/it had fetched
wirhattengeholtwe had fetched
ihrhattetgeholtyou (plural) had fetched
sie

Sie
hattengeholtthey had fetched

you (polite) had fetched
Ich hatte schon mit ihm gesprochen.I had already spoken to him.

4 Verbs taking sein

  • Here are the pluperfect tense forms of reisen (meaning to travel) in full.
PronounseinPast ParticipleMeanings
ichwargereistI had travelled
duwarstgereistyou had travelled
er
sie
es
wargereisthe/she/it had travelled
wirwarengereistwe had travelled
ihrwartgereistyou (plural) had travelled
sie

Sie
warengereistthey had travelled

you (polite) had travelled
Sie war sehr spät angekommen.She had arrived very late.
Key points
  • The pluperfect tense describes things that had happened or were true at a point in the past before something else happened.
  • It is formed with the imperfect tense of haben or sein and the past participle.
  • Verbs which take haben in the perfect tense will take haben in the pluperfect tense and those which take sein in the perfect tense will take sein in the pluperfect tense.
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Indice dei contenuti
  • Nouns
    • Using nouns
    • Gender
    • The Cases
    • Forming plurals
    • Weak nouns
    • Proper nouns
  • Articles
  • Adjectives
    • Using adjectives
    • Making adjectives agree
    • Adjectives used as nouns
    • Some other points about adjectives
    • Comparatives of adjectives
    • Superlatives of adjectives
  • Adverbs
    • How adverbs are used
    • How adverbs are formed
    • Adverbs of place
    • Comparatives and superlatives of adverbs
    • Word order with adverbs
    • Emphasizers
  • Pronouns
    • Personal pronouns: subject
    • Personal pronouns: direct object
    • Personal pronouns: indirect object
    • Personal pronouns: after prepositions
    • Possessive pronouns
    • Indefinite pronouns
    • Reflexive pronouns
    • Relative pronouns
    • Interrogative pronouns
  • Verbs
    • Weak, strong and mixed verbs
    • The present tense
    • Reflexive verbs
    • The imperative
    • Verb prefixes in the present tense
    • The perfect tense
    • The imperfect tense
    • The future tense
    • The conditional
    • The pluperfect tense
    • The subjunctive
    • The infinitive
    • Modal verbs
    • Impersonal verbs
    • There is/There are
    • Use of “es” as an anticipatory object
    • Verbs followed by prepositions
    • Verbs followed by the dative case
    • The passive
  • Prepositions
    • Using prepositions
  • Conjunctions
    • Co-ordinating conjunctions
    • Co-ordinating conjunctions with two parts
    • Subordinating conjunctions
  • Word order
  • Negatives
  • Questions
    • How to ask a question in German
  • Numbers
    • Time and Date
  • Some common difficulties
    • Specific problems
  • Alphabet
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