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past perfect - definition, concept and what it is

In Spanish, the past perfect 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. Thus, if I am looking at a painting exhibition about the 80s and I want to refer to a previous time, I will be able to say that "in the 70s an artistic movement had taken place that already announced a change in trend in the 80s", being the verb form " he had had "the past pluperfect. In this example it is observed that a past (the 80s) is spoken of, from which a mention is made of another past (the 70s).

The formation of the Preterite Pluscuamperfect

To form this tense, you must use the auxiliary verb "have" 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 that we want to express. Regarding the participle, verbs ending in “ar” have a participle ending in “ado” and verbs ending in “er” or “ir” have a participle in “gone”, except in the case of irregular verbs.

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 perfect 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 the 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 name of the past perfect compound tense 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 mood we use the past perfect to refer to a recent past (I ate this morning or we slept until eleven o'clock) but, as we have commented, the past perfect refers to a more remote past, that is, a completed action that is prior to another action in the past.

Photos: iStock - DeanDrobot / svetikd

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