The Past Perfect Tense

1. The Past Perfect Tense page 363Avancemos 3

2. The Past Perfect Tense • In ENGLISH the past perfect describes actions that HAD occurred BEFORE other actions in the past. • We had already eaten when she called. • Ya habíamos comido cuando llamó.

3. The Past Perfect Tense • Use the past perfect tense to show that an event had already occurred (or not occurred) at a specific moment in the past.

4. The Past Perfect Tense • Use HABER in theimperfect tense with a pastparticiple. • habíahabíashabía + pastparticiplehabíamoshabíaishabían

5. The Past Perfect Tense • The past perfect tense is used when a past action was completed prior to another past action. • Expressions such as "ya", "antes", "nunca", "todavía" and "después" will often appear in sentences where one action was completed before another.

6. The Past Perfect Tense • Cuando llegaron los padres, los niños ya habían comido. • When the parents arrived, the children had already eaten. • Yo había comido antes de llamarles. • I had eaten prior to calling them.

7. The Past Perfect Tense • The auxiliary verb and the past participle are never separated. Object pronouns are placed immediately before the auxiliary verb.

8. The Past Perfect Tense • Pablo le había dado mucho dinero a suhermana. • Pablo had given a lot of money to his sister. • To make this sentence negative, the word "no" is placed before the indirect object pronoun (le). • Pablo no le había dado mucho dinero a suhermana. • Pablo had not given a lot of money to his sister.

9. The Past Perfect Tense • With reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun is placed immediatedly before the auxiliary verb. Compare how the present perfect differs from the simple present, when a reflexive verb is used.

10. The Past Perfect Tense • Me lavolasmanos. (present) • I wash my hands. • Me habíalavadolasmanos. (past perfect) • I had washed my hands. • To make this sentence negative, the word "no" is placed before the reflexive pronoun (me). • No me habíalavadolasmanos. • I had not washed my hands.