Past Perfect (Pluperfect)

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Past Perfect(Pluperfect)
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• The past perfect isnt hard to explain, but we
  dont always use it when we should. The past
  perfect (also called pluperfect) is the past of
  the past.
• Juan had already eaten when we arrived.
• Both actions (eaten and arrived) are in
  the past. But the eating happened before the
  arriving. So arrived is past, and had eaten
  is the past of thatthe past of the past.

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Pluperfect(Past Perfect)(Pluscuamperfecto)

• The past perfect (also called the pluperfect
  and, in Spanish, the pluscuamperfecto), remember,
  is the past of the past and translates with had
  in English. ALL perfect tenses get a helping
  verb and a past participle
• present perfect he has eaten
• past perfect he had eaten
• future perfect he will have eaten
• conditional perfect he would have eaten

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• As you saw, the present perfect tense has a set
  of helping verbs that come from haber
• he hemos
• has habéis
• ha han
• The same is true of the past perfect. The
  helping verbs for the past perfect are the
  imperfect form of haber
• había hablado habíamos hablado
• habías hablado habíais hablado
• había hablado habían hablado

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• Dont forget how to form the past participle

Drop the ar and add ado hablar hablado nadar
nadado pensar pensado almorzar almorzado llegar
llegado estar estado Drop the er or ir and
add ido comer comido poder podido leer leído
querer querido asistir asistido venir venido
And dont forget the irregular ones volver vuelt
o poner puesto abrir abierto cubrir cubierto e
scribir escrito ver visto morir muerto decir dic
ho hacer hecho romper roto
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• Note that the endings on haber for the past
  perfect are the endings for the imperfect tense
• había habíamos
• habías habíais
• había habían
• Perfect ALWAYS means that youll have a form of
  haber (have, has, or had in English) and a past
  participle.
• The present perfect is the PRESENT tense of
  haber the past participle.
• The past perfect tense is the IMPERFECT (PAST)
  tense of haber the past participle.
• Guess what the future perfect tense is composed
  of. But thats another lesson.

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• Click here to go to a brief practice exercise.
• Click here to go to your homework.