Definition of Past Perfect Plus

In Spanish, the preterite pluperfect is a verb tense that refers to the past of another past. In this way, if we take a moment in the past as a reference, the past perfect refers to a previous past. So if I'm seeing a exposition from painting about the 80's and i want allude to an earlier time I can say that "in the 70s there had been a movementartistic which already announced a change in trend in the 80s, "the verb form being" had had "the past pluperfect. In this example it is observed that a past (the 80s) is spoken of, from which mention is made of another past (the 70s).

The formation of the Past Pluscuamperfect

To form this tense, the auxiliary verb "have" must be used in the past imperfect (I had, you had, he-she had, we had, you had and they had) and add the participle of the verb we want express. Regarding the participle, the verbs ending in "ar" have the participle ending in "ado" and the verbs ending in "er" or "go" have the participle in "gone", except in the case of verbs irregular.

Past Past Perfect Indicative and Subjunctive

If I say "she had eaten when I arrived" I am using the past perfect indicative. In opposition to the indicative mood, there is the subjunctive mood, so the past pluperfect of the subjunctive introduces the same mechanism as the past of the past but with the idea of ​​doubt or probability.

Let's look at some examples: "I am convinced that I would have liked to go to Beach"," If you had prepared my snack before I would not have to run away. " As can be seen, in the two previous sentences the auxiliary verb "have" is used in the imperfect subjunctive (would have / would have) plus the participle of the verb.

Perfect and pluperfect

The denomination from the past tense pluperfect comes from Latin, specifically from "plus quam perfectus", which means more than perfect. In this way, we have two compound pasts, one perfect and the other pluperfect. In the indicative mode we use the past perfect to refer to the recent past (I ate this morning or we slept until eleven o'clock) but, maybe And as we have commented, the past perfect refers to a more remote past, that is, a completed action that is prior to another action of the past.

Photos: iStock - DeanDrobot / svetikd