Lesson 2: Pluperfect tense - part 1 | 1 2

Alongside the perfect and imperfect tenses, a further past tense exists in Latin. This is called the pluperfect tense. The pluperfect tense (or past perfect in English) is used to describe finished actions that have been completed at a definite point in time in the past. It is easiest to understand it as a past ‘past’ action.

For example:

I had given¹ the messuage to Lucy, when I realised² my mistake.
¹first
²second

The messuage had been given to Lucy before the speaker realised his mistake.

In Latin this tense looks like this:

Ego Lucie messuagium dederam

I had given a messuage to Lucy

The endings for the pluperfect are similar to those of the present tense:

Latin	English
-o	I	(first person singular)
-s	you	(second person singular)
-t	he/she/it	(third person singular)
-mus	we	(first person plural)
-tis	you	(second person plural)
-nt	they	(third person plural)

The difference is that they are preceded by ‘era-’ and, in the first person singular, the characteristic ‘-o’ of the present changes to ‘-m’ in the pluperfect.

Pluperfect tense endings
Latin	English
-eram	I
-eras	you (singular)
-erat	he/she/it
-eramus	we
-eratis	you (plural)
-erant	they

To form the pluperfect tense, remove the ‘-i’ from the third principal part of the verb and add the relevant ending.

Pluperfect of confirmo, confirmare, confirmavi, confirmatum (1) to confirm

Latin	English
confirmaveram	I had confirmed
confirmaveras	you had confirmed
confirmaverat	he/she/it had confirmed
confirmaveramus	we had confirmed
confirmaveratis	you had confirmed
confirmaverant	they had confirmed