Pluperfect tense        Practice exercises

The Pluperfect tense describes what had happened or what someone had done, e.g.  I had gone to the supermarket.

It is formed using the imperfect tense of "haber" plus a past participle.  

In Spanish, past participles end in -ado (for AR verbs) and -ido (ER/IR verbs).   Be aware: there are a few irregular past participles!

Example of AR verb   Example of ER/IR verb  
había terminado I had finished había comido I had eaten
habías terminado you had finished habías comido you had eaten
había terminado he/she/it had finished había comido he/she/it had eaten
habíamos terminado we had finished habíamos comido we had eaten
habíais terminado you (all) had finished habíais comido you (all) had eaten
habían terminado they had finished habían comido they had eaten

 

Notes

  1. The verb "haber" and the past participle can never be split up.   This means that negatives and pronouns go in front of "haber", e.g. no había hablado con él - I hadn't spoken to him; lo había cambiado - I had changed it.

  2. The past participle is invariable in the perfect tense, e.g. las chicas habían comido las manzanas - the girls had eaten the apples.

  3. The following are not translated using the pluperfect tense: I had been waiting for 10 minutes when..., I had just arrived when...