The past perfect tense in German

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The past perfect tense

When talking about the past, we use the past perfect (or “pluperfect”) tense to refer to a past event which happened before another past event.

Als Tim nach Hause kam, hatte Anna schon geduscht.

When Tim got home, Anna had already showered.

The past perfect is formed using: sein or haben in the simple past tense + past participle of the main verb:

ESSENessen en
ich hatte gegessen
du hattest gegessen
er/sie/es hatte gegessen
wir hatten gegessen
ihr hattet gegessen
sie/Sie hatten gegessen
KOMMENkommen en
ich war gekommen
du warst gekommen
er/sie/es war gekommen
wir waren gekommen
ihr wart gekommen
sie/Sie waren gekommen

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