The Simple Pluperfect (Antepretérito)

Level 3

The antepretérito means "had done": Cando cheguei, xa marchara (when I arrived, he had already left). Galician uses this one-word form instead of a helper verb + participle.

How It Works

Regular forms

  • falar: falara, falaras, falara, falaramos, falarades, falaran
  • comer: comera, comeras, comera, comeramos, comerades, comeran
  • partir: partira, partiras, partira, partiramos, partirades, partiran

Irregular verbs keep their preterite stem (see the preterite): fixera (facer), dixera (dicir), fora (ser and ir), estivera (estar), tivera (ter), viñera (vir), vira (ver), puxera (pór), puidera (poder), quixera (querer), soubera (saber), trouxera (traer), dera (dar).

Accents. The nós and vós forms have no accent: falaramos, fixerades. Some speakers stress them earlier (faláramos), but the written standard has no accent. Do not confuse fora (had been / had gone) with fóra (outside), which has a diacritic accent.

When to use it. It places one past event before another, often with xa, nunca or antes: Nunca vira o mar ata aquel verán. In relaxed speech many people use the preterite when the order is already clear; the antepretérito makes the order explicit and is the standard choice in writing.

Not a compound tense. Galician does not build "had done" with haber. And tiña feito is not the same thing: ter + participle describes repeated or accumulated actions.

Other uses of the -ra form. In some constructions the -ra form works as a past subjunctive, and in literature it can mean "would have" (quen o dixera!). The norms recommend keeping -ra for the antepretérito and -se for the past subjunctive. See the -ra and -se forms.

Examples (6)

  1. Cando cheguei á estación, o tren xa saíra.

    When I got to the station, the train had already left.

    Word by Word: When I-arrived to-the station, the train already had-left.

    Saíra comes from saíron; the train left before I arrived.

  2. Nunca vira o mar ata aquel verán.

    I had never seen the sea until that summer.

    Vira is the antepretérito of ver (viron → vira).

  3. Non tiña fame porque xa comera.

    I was not hungry because I had already eaten.

    Comera shows the eating happened before the moment described.

  4. Contounos que estivera en Lisboa o ano anterior.

    She told us she had been in Lisbon the year before.

    Estivera comes from estiveron.

  5. Cando chegamos, xa lle deran o premio a outra persoa.

    When we arrived, they had already given the prize to someone else.

    Deran comes from deron; lle goes before the verb after xa.

  6. Devolvinlle o libro que me emprestara.

    I gave him back the book he had lent me.

    The lending happened before the returning.

Common Mistakes

  • Building a compound tense with había.

    Cando cheguei, xa había marchado.
    Cando cheguei, xa marchara.

    Standard Galician has no compound tenses with haber. Use the one-word antepretérito.

  • Writing an accent on the nós or vós form.

    Xa o faláramos antes.
    Xa o falaramos antes.

    You will hear faláramos in speech, but standard Galician stresses these forms on the second-to-last syllable, so no accent is written.

  • Confusing fora (had gone) with fóra (outside).

    Cando cheguei, xa se fóra.
    Cando cheguei, xa se fora.

    The verb form fora has no accent. Fóra, with an accent, is the adverb meaning "outside".

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

The Simple Pluperfect (Antepretérito)Level 3

Learn This First

The pluperfect in -ra is formed from the preterite and locates an event before another past event.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.