The pluperfect or past perfect tense - VERBS - Easy Learning Italian Grammar

Easy Learning Italian Grammar (2011)

VERBS

13. The pluperfect or past perfect tense

What is the pluperfect tense?

The pluperfect tense is used to talk about what had happened or had been true at a point in the past, for example, I’d forgotten to send her a card.

1 Using the pluperfect tense

When talking about the past we sometimes refer to things that had already happened previously. In English we use had followed by a past participle such as done, broken, worked, arrived to do this. This tense is called the pluperfect or past perfect.

The Italian pluperfect tense is used in a similar way, but like the perfect tense, it can be made with either avere or essere, and the past participle.

For more information on Past participles, see page 109.

Avevamo già mangiato quando è arrivato.

We’d already eaten when he arrived.

Ovviamente erano riusciti a risolvere il problema.

They’d obviously managed to solve the problem.

2 How to make the pluperfect tense with avere

To make the pluperfect tense with avere:

choose the imperfect form of avere that matches the subject of the sentence.

add the past participle. Do not change the ending of the participle to make it agree with the subject.

For more information on the Imperfect tense of avere and Past participles, see pages 105 and 109.

The pluperfect tense of parlare (meaning to speak) is as follows:

Imperfect tense
of avere

Past participle

Meaning

(io)

avevo

parlato

I had spoken

(tu)

avevi

parlato

you had spoken

(lui/lei)
(lei/Lei)

aveva

parlato

he/she had spoken
you had spoken

(noi)

avevamo

parlato

we had spoken

(voi)

avevate

parlato

you had spoken

(loro)

avevano

parlato

they had spoken

Non gli avevo mai parlato prima.

I’d never spoken to him before.

Sara gli aveva parlato il giorno prima.

Sara had spoken to him the day before.

Note that you use the same form of avere for lui, lei and Lei.

For more information on Verbs with irregular past participles, see page 110.

Tip

Do not use the pluperfect tense to say since when, or how long you had been doing something – da and the imperfect tense is used for this in Italian.

Abitavamo lì dal 1990.

We’d lived there since 1990.

For more information on da, see Prepositions page 174.

3 When to make the pluperfect tense with avere

As with the perfect tense, you use avere to make the pluperfect tense of most verbs.

You do not use avere to make the pluperfect tense of:

reflexive verbs

certain verbs that do not take a direct object, such as andare (meaning to go), venire (meaning to come), diventare (meaning to become).

Ovviamente avevo sbagliato.

I’d obviously made a mistake.

Avevano lavorato molto il giorno prima.

They’d worked hard the day before.

Note that, as with the perfect tense, the past participle agrees with the object pronouns lo and la, (meaning him, her and it) and li and le (meaning them) when they come before the verb.

Non l’avevo vista.

I hadn’t seen her.

Le lettere? Non le aveva mai lette.

The letters? He’d never read them.

For more information on Object pronouns and the Perfect tense, see pages 44 and 108.

Key points

The pluperfect tense is used to talk about what had already happened in the past.

The Italian pluperfect tense is made with the imperfect of avere or essere, and the past participle.

avere is used to make the pluperfect tense of most verbs.

4 How to make the pluperfect tense with essere

To make the pluperfect tense with essere:

choose the imperfect form of essere that matches the subject of the sentence.

add the past participle. Make the ending of the participle agree with the subject.

The pluperfect tense of andare (meaning to go) is as follows:

Imperfect tense
of essere

Past participle

Meaning

(io)

ero

andato or andata

I had gone

(tu)

eri

andato or andata

you had gone

(lui)

era

andato

he/it had gone

(lei)

era

andata

she/it had gone

(lei/Lei)

era

andato or andata

you had gone

(noi)

eravamo

andati or andate

we had gone

(voi)

eravate

andati or andate

you had gone

(loro)

erano

andati or andate

they had gone

Silvia era andata con loro.

Silvia had gone with them.

Tutti i miei amici erano andati alla festa.

All my friends had gone to the party.

5 When to make the pluperfect tense with essere

When essere is used to make the perfect tense of a verb, you also use essere to make the pluperfect.

For more information on Making the perfect tense with essere, see page 112.

Use essere to make the pluperfect of all reflexive verbs, and of certain verbs that do not take a direct object, such as andare (meaning to go), venire (meaning to come), riuscire (meaning to succeed), diventare (meaning to become) and piacere (meaning to like).

Ovviamente non gli erano piaciuti i quadri.

He obviously hadn’t liked the pictures.

Sono arrivata alle cinque, ma erano già partiti.

I arrived at five, but they’d already gone.

Fortunatamente non si era fatta male.

Luckily she hadn’t hurt herself.

Key points

Verbs that make their perfect tense with essere also make their pluperfect tense with essere.

When the pluperfect tense is made with essere the past participle agrees with the subject of the sentence.

essere is used to make the pluperfect tense of reflexive verbs and certain verbs that do not take a direct object.