pluperfect

Had already happened

Pluperfect is a grammatical term for the tense indicating an action completed before another past action: She had already left when I arrived.

In English, it's formed with "had" plus the past participle.

Outside grammar, pluperfect occasionally means utterly perfect or complete—more than perfect—though this use is rare and somewhat playful.

grammar

tense

Strained or nervous

aspectFeature or dimension
auxiliaryGiving additional support
participleVerb form as adjective

conjugation · verb · preterite · anterior · indicative · subjunctive · conditional · inflection · morphology · syntax

narration

flashback

Involuntary past memory

backstoryCharacter's past narrative
prologueIntroductory literary section
preludeIntroductory piece or event

anteriority · sequence · storytelling · foreshadowing · memoir · reminiscence · chronicle · recollection · vignette · temporal shift

crosslinguistic

anterior

Situated toward the front

remote pastTimes far before now

completion

accomplished

Highly skilled, expert

fulfilledCompletely satisfied, realized
concludedBrought to completion
elapsedGone by, temporally

Categories

LatinLatin, Latin vocabulary, Latin roots, Latin alphabet, Latin phrases
verb tensespast tense, present tense, future tense, past, present
Latin verbssum, est, audio, lego, video
Finnish grammarconsonant gradation, partitive, nominative, genitive, accusative
Greek grammarverb conjugation, verb tenses, conjugation, declension, conjugations
inflectioninflection, inflections, conjugation, declension, case

Opposites

grammatical tense/aspect contrast

pluperfectfuture perfect

Tense for prior completion

present tense · simple present · future tense · imperfect · present perfect

perfection/completeness

pluperfectimperfect

Having flaws or faults

flawed · incomplete · defective · faulty · unfinished

Family

perfect, imperfect, perfection, perfectible, past perfect, perfective

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G