All About German Past Perfect Tense or Pluperfect / Learn Simple and Easily – Das Plusquamperfekt

In this lesson, you will learn about the German past perfect tense, also known as the pluperfect, including how it is formed and when it is used.

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The English past perfect tense can express two main ideas: it can indicate something that used to happen or describe an ongoing action. For example:
– “Alex had studied Math” indicates that he completed his studying at some point in the past.
– On the other hand, “Alex had been studying Math” suggests that he was still working on it before another past event occurred. Let’s see what else you need to know about this matter.

CONTENTS

Forming the German Pluperfect (Past Perfect)
Regular verbs
Irregular verbs
Haben, sein and werden in the present and past perfect
Mixed verbs
Uses of the pluperfect tense

Forming the German Pluperfect (Past Perfect)

The formula for the past perfect tense/pluperfect is as follows:

Preterite (Past tense) of haben and sein

German Participle II

The perfect participle, also known as Participle II, is formed by adding the prefix “ge-“ to the verb stem. Participle II is used to create the Perfect, Plusquamperfekt, and Passive forms in German. For regular verbs, the formation of Participle II follows this structure:

ge- + [unchanged verb stem] + (e)t

For example:
INFINITIVE – PARTICIPLE II
stellen – gestellt
leben – gelebt
machen – gemacht

For irregular verbs, the formation of Participle II follows this structure:

ge- + [changed verb stem] + en

For example:
INFINITIVE – PARTICIPLE II
gehen – gegangen
sprechen – gesprochen
fahren – gefahren.

The prefix ge- is NOT needed to form verbs with an inseparable prefix and verbs ending in -ieren.
For example:
INFINITIVE – PARTICIPLE II
besuchen – besucht
verstehen- verstanden
studieren – studiert

For verbs with a separable prefix, the prefix ge- is placed between the prefix and the verb stem.
For example:
INFINITIVE – PARTICIPLE II
aufstehen – aufgestanden
ankommen – angekommen

Now that you know all this, you can easily build the plusquamperfect, here is an example with haben and sein:

Regular Verbs

For regular verbs in German, you form the present perfect by using either “haben” or “sein” with the past participle. You’d typically use “haben” for transitive verbs and “sein” for intransitive verbs, verbs of motion, or verbs that show a state change. The past participle is made by adding the prefix “ge-” to the infinitive’s stem and “-t.” For instance, the infinitive “fragen” (to ask) turns into “gefragt.”

When a verb uses the auxiliary verb “sein,” the way we form the past participle stays the same. The only thing that changes is how we conjugate “sein.” Just keep in mind that in English, “sein” translates to “have” or “had” in the present perfect and past perfect tenses. Let’s take a look at the verb “reisen,” which means “to travel,” and see how it gets fully conjugated in the present perfect and past perfect tenses.

A lot of regular German verbs end with -ieren, and many of them come from other languages. These verbs are conjugated just like other regular verbs in both the present and past tenses. One interesting thing is that when you turn -ieren verbs into past participles for the present perfect or past perfect tenses, they skip the “ge-“ prefix. For example, check out the verb “studieren” (to study) or “passieren” (to happen)

Irregular verbs

When it comes to using perfect tenses with irregular verbs, you’ll need either “haben” or “sein” as the auxiliary verb, just like with regular verbs. The main difference is how the participles are formed. For irregular verbs, the participles are built by adding the prefix “ge-” to an irregular stem, usually ending in “-en.” For instance, the verb “trinken” (to drink) turns into “ge-” + “trunk” + “-en,” which gives us “getrunken.” Now, let’s check out another irregular transitive verb, “sprechen” (to find), and see how it’s fully conjugated in the present perfect and past perfect tenses.

When a verb uses the auxiliary verb “sein,” forming the participle doesn’t change much. The main thing that changes is how you conjugate “sein.” Let’s take a look at the verb “gehen,” and see how it works in the present perfect and past perfect tenses.

Click on:
Grammar Contents

Haben, sein and werden in the present and past perfect

Mixed verbs

Some verbs change the vowel in the stem of the participle like irregular verbs but have a -t ending like a regular verb.
For example:

Other verbs following this pattern are:
brennen – gebrannt / burn
denken – gedacht / think
nennen – genannt /name
rennen – gerannt / run
senden – gesandt / send
wenden-gewandt / turn
wissen – gewusst / know

Uses of the pluperfect tense

The pluperfect tense indicates a past within the past. The pluperfect tense is like a way to talk about something that happened even further in the past compared to what’s happening in the main sentence. It’s often found in sentences that start with “nachdem” (which means “after”), showing that the action in that part happened before the action in the main part.

For example:

Nachdem er weggegangen war, weinte sie den ganzen Tag. – After he had gone she cried all day.Nachdem meine Eltern eingeschlafen waren, sah ich den Fernsehen an. – After my parents have fallen asleep, I watched the television.

But it is used in many other types of context to indicate a more remote past:
For example:
Er wartete, bis die Sitzung begonnen hatte. – He waited until the meeting had started.
Ich haben gewartet, bis der Bus abgefahren war.  – I waited until the bus had left
Theo hatte den Schlüssel verloren. Er suchte ihn überall. – Theo had lost the key. He looked everywhere for it. 
Ich hatte den ganzen Tag nicht gegessen. Ich hatte am Abend großen Hunger. – I hadn’t eaten all day. I was very hungry in the evening. 

You have now learned everything you need to know about the plusperfect. If you want to learn more about other tenses, visit the lessons: