Pluperfect III
Introduction/Review
Do you remember studying the present perfect? It is a compound tense, formed with a conjugation of haber in the present (he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han) and the past participle of the main verb (the -ado/-ido form). Well, as it turns out, there are tons of perfect tenses. The second one has a funny name: the pluperfect. It is just like the present perfect, but moved backward in time. So while the present perfect is used to say things like, “I have studied Spanish for thirteen years,” the pluperfect is used to say things like, “I had already memorized the conjugations of haber in the present tense, so I knew the answer when the teacher called on me.”
Formation/Usage
Happily, the pluperfect is just like the present perfect in terms of structure. The only difference is that instead of conjugating haber in the present, you conjugate it in the imperfect. Also happily, it is a regular verb in the imperfect:
Next, once you’ve conjugated haber, just add on the past participle of the main verb like you did with the present perfect.
Examples:
Ella había leído todo el libro el año pasado. (She had read the entire book last year.)
Nosotros habíamos caminado por el parque. (We had walked through the garden.)
Ellos habían comido cuando llegamos. (They had eaten when we arrived.)
The pluperfect is like the present perfect, but shifted backwards in time. It is used to express things like "We had sold the house by the end of August," or "She had spent all of the money already."
The pluperfect is formed with an imperfect conjugation of haber and the past participle (the -ado or -ido form).
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