Past Perfect in German - Plusquamperfekt

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When to Use the Past Perfect

In German, the past perfect is also called "Plusquamperfekt" or "Vorvergangenheit" (pre-past). Usually, it explains how a certain event in the past came to be.





Examples:

Mir war kalt. (past tense). - I was cold.
Ich hatte meinen Schal vergessen. (past perfect) - I had forgotten my scarf.

Du bist danach noch tanzen gegangen? (past tense) - You went dancing after that?
Ach so, du hattest es ja auch versprochen. (past perfect) Oh, that's right, you had promised to go.

Karl war wütend. (past tense) - Karl was angry.
Anja hatte schon wieder seinen Kühlschrank leer gegessen. (past perfect) - Anja had emptied his fridge again.

Wir wollten uns unbedingt die Vorstellung ansehen. (past tense) - We really wanted to see the show.
Wir waren davor noch nie im Theater gewesen. (past perfect) - We had never been to the theater before.


If the event we talk about (Mir war kalt. - I was cold.) already lies in the past, and what has led to it (Ich hatte meinen Schal vergessen. - I had forgotten my scarf.) happened even earlier, we use the past perfect.


In the examples above, the main event stands in the first sentence, while the explanation stands in the second sentence, but often, both events fit into a single sentence.


Examples:

Da ich meinen Schal vergessen hatte (past perfect), war mir kalt (past tense). - As I had forgotten my scarf, I was cold.

Nachdem du es versprochen hattest, musstest du mit zum Tanzen. (past tense) - After you had promised to go, you had to go dancing.

Karl war wütend (past tense) als er sah, dass Anja schon wieder seinen Kühlschrank leer gegessen hatte. (past perfect) - Karl was angry when he saw that Anja had emptied his fridge again.

Wir wollten uns die Vorstellung unbedingt ansehen (past tense), weil wir davor noch nie im Theater gewesen waren. (past perfect) - We really wanted to see the show because we had never been to the theater before.


How to Use the Past Perfect

As you saw, the past perfect always consists of two parts:


Part 1: simple past of "haben" (to have - Ich hatte meinen Schal vergessen. - I had forgotten my scarf.) or "sein" (to be - Wir waren noch nie im Theater gewesen. - We had never been to the theater before.)

Part 2: past participle (Ich hatte meinen Schall vergessen. Wir waren noch nie im Theater gewesen.)


These two parts are often separated from each other by other sentence parts. The rule is that Part 1 (simple past of "haben" or "sein") immediately follows the person doing the action (Ich hatte...), while Part 2 stands at the end of the sentence (...meinen Schal vergessen.)


Examples:

Du hattest noch nicht einmal geduscht. - You hadn't even taken a shower yet.
Wir waren bis dahin in Ulm zur Schule gegangen. - We had gone to school in Ulm until then.
Ihr hattet euch beim Schlittschuhlaufen erkältet. - You had caught a cold at the skating rink.







However, if a relative clause follows ("...dass er einen herrlichen grünen Schal trug." - "...that he was wearing a splendid green scarf." or "...ob sie auch Marzipankartoffeln servierten." - "...whether they were also serving marzipan potatoes.) Part 1 and Part 2 stay together.


Examples:

Ich hatte bemerkt, dass er einen herrlichen grünen Schal trug. - I had noticed that he was wearing a splendid green scarf.
Du hattest gefragt, ob sie auch Marzipankartoffeln servierten. - You had asked whether they were also serving marzipan potatoes.


If the past perfect appears in a question, Part 1 stands at the beginning, and Part 2 at the end of the question.


Hatte Margot den Herd schon ausgemacht? - Had Margot turned off the stove yet?
War schon vorher jemand dort gewesen? - Had somebody been there already?


If the question contains other question words like "Wann?" (when), "Wieso?" (why) or "Wie?" (how), the question word begins the question, and the rest stays the same.


Examples:

Wann hatte Margot den Herd ausgemacht? - When had Margot turned off the stove?
Wieso war schon vorher jemand dort gewesen? - Why had somebody been there already?


Even if you had never heard about the past perfect before you read this article, I am sure you have learned enough now to explain past events and more.

Learn how to differentiate between German verb types in order to conjugate all of them correctly! Read:
Strong, Weak, and Mixed Verbs in German or search any verb in the list of German Verbs