The Plusquamperfekt marks an action completed before another past event. It is built like the Perfekt but with the auxiliary in the Präteritum: hatte or war plus the past participle. It often pairs with nachdem (after).
When to use it
Earlier of two past actions
Nachdem er gegessen hatte, ging er.
After he had eaten, he left.
Regular endings
| haben-Verben | sein-Verben | |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte + ge…t | war + ge…en |
| du | hattest + ge…t | warst + ge…en |
| er/sie/es | hatte + ge…t | war + ge…en |
| wir | hatten + ge…t | waren + ge…en |
| ihr | hattet + ge…t | wart + ge…en |
| sie/Sie | hatten + ge…t | waren + ge…en |
Irregular verbs
Strong (Partizip II)
Mixed (Partizip II)
Frequently asked
The Plusquamperfekt marks an action completed before another past event. It is built like the Perfekt but with the auxiliary in the Präteritum: hatte or war plus the past participle. It often pairs with nachdem (after). The main cases are earlier of two past actions. For example: Nachdem er gegessen hatte, ging er. — After he had eaten, he left..
Regular verbs take: haben-Verben: ich hatte + ge…t, du hattest + ge…t, er/sie/es hatte + ge…t, wir hatten + ge…t, ihr hattet + ge…t, sie/Sie hatten + ge…t; sein-Verben: ich war + ge…en, du warst + ge…en, er/sie/es war + ge…en, wir waren + ge…en, ihr wart + ge…en, sie/Sie waren + ge…en.
The most common ones are sein, haben, werden, können, müssen, wollen, sollen and dürfen. Each has its own conjugation table with the full set of forms.
The Plusquamperfekt sits at B1 — Intermediate, and Verboteca practice is free at A1. The rule, the tables and the examples on this page stay readable without a subscription or an account.
Every verb form becomes a card that comes back right before you would forget it.
