adjective
- relating to or denoting a verb tense that expresses action completed before a specified past time
Usage: grammar
noun
- the pluperfect tense or a verb form in this tense
Usage: grammar
Examples
- The pluperfect tense is formed with ‘had’ plus the past participle.
- In the sentence ‘She had finished her homework before dinner,’ ‘had finished’ is in the pluperfect.
- Students often confuse the simple past with the pluperfect tense.
- The pluperfect indicates that one past action occurred before another past action.
- French has a pluperfect tense similar to English.
- The verb ‘had gone’ in ‘He had gone home’ is a pluperfect form.