15.5.1 Formation
of past perfect / Plusquamperfekt
The past perfect is formed according to the formula:
conjugated modal verb in imperfect
+ perfect participle
imperfect of to have
+ perfect participle
I had
you had
he, she, it had
we had
you had
they had
+
eaten
read
bought
written
seen
gone
The choice of the modal verb is exactly the same like
with the present perfect - transitive verbs (those ones
which have a direct object) use the verb haben, intransitive
(the ones without direct objects) use the verb sein.
And the perfect participle is the same as described
before.
imperfect of verb haben
+ perfect participle
ich hatte
du hattest
er/sie/es hatte
wir hatten
ihr hattet
sie hatten
gegessen
gelesen
gekauft
geschrieben
gesehen
Examples
Ich hatte einen Brief
geschrieben. = I had
written a
letter.
Wir hatten Brot gekauft. = We had
bought some
bread.
Ihr hattet einen Mann
gesehen. = You had
seen a man.
Imperfekt del verb sein
+ participio perfecto
ich war
du warst
er/sie/es war
wir waren
ihr wart
sie waren
gegangen
geschwommen
gelaufen
gefahren
geflogen
Examples
Ich war nach
Amerika geflogen. = I had
gone to America.
Wir waren nach Hause gelaufen. = We had
gone home.
Das
Auto war kaputt gegangen und deshalb nahmen
wir den Zug. = The car had
broken down
and therefore we went by train.
