Pluperfect: hat / war + Participle

The Pluperfect: Hat or War + Participle

Level 3

The pluperfect means had done: hat or war + participle. Ech hat scho giess, wéi hien ukomm ass. (I had already eaten when he arrived.)

How It Works

1. How it is built
Take the perfect and put the helping verb into the simple past:

  • Ech hu giess (I have eaten) → Ech hat giess (I had eaten)
  • Si ass fortgaangen (She has left) → Si war fortgaangen (She had left)

The choice between hunn and sinn stays the same as in the perfect. See Perfect With Hunn and Perfect With Sinn.

2. The helping verbs

  • hat: ech hat, du has, hien/hatt hat, mir haten, dir hat, si haten
  • war: ech war, du waars, hie/hatt war, mir waren, dir waart, si waren

The plurals follow the n-rule: mir haten eis, but mir hate scho giess; mir waren do, but mir ware virdrun nach ni do.

3. Word order
Hat or war takes second place and the participle goes to the end: Ech hat scho giess. In a subordinate clause, hat or war moves to the very end: ..., well ech de Bus verpasst hat.

4. When to use it
Use the pluperfect to show that one past event happened before another. It often appears with scho (already), virdrun (before) and nach ni (never before), and in clauses with nodeems or wéi:

  • Nodeems d'Kanner ageschlof waren, hu mer e Film gekuckt.

When the order of events is already clear, speakers often just use the perfect.

Examples (6)

  1. Ech hat scho giess, wéi hien ukomm ass.

    I had already eaten when he arrived.

    Eating came first, so it is in the pluperfect. The arrival is in the perfect.

  2. Si war scho fortgaangen.

    She had already left.

    Fortgoen takes sinn in the perfect, so it takes war here.

  3. Mir haten eis Schlësselen doheem vergiess.

    We had forgotten our keys at home.

    Haten keeps its n before the vowel of eis.

  4. Nodeems d'Kanner ageschlof waren, hu mer e Film gekuckt.

    After the children had fallen asleep, we watched a film.

    In a subordinate clause, waren goes to the very end.

  5. Hien hat mir dat net gesot.

    He hadn't told me that.

  6. Mir ware virdrun nach ni zu Paräis gewiescht.

    We had never been to Paris before.

    Waren loses its n before v by the n-rule.

Common Mistakes

  • Using hat with a verb that takes sinn.

    Si hat scho fortgaangen.
    Si war scho fortgaangen.

    Fortgoen takes sinn in the perfect (si ass fortgaangen), so the pluperfect uses war.

  • Keeping the n of haten before a consonant that drops it.

    Mir haten scho giess.
    Mir hate scho giess.

    By the n-rule, haten loses its n before s.

  • Using the wrong du form of hat.

    Du hat mir dat gesot.
    Du has mir dat gesot.

    The du form of hat is has.

How It Connects

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

Pluperfect: hat / war + ParticipleLevel 3The Pluperfect: Hat or War + Participle

Learn This First

Before The Pluperfect: Hat or War + Participle, learn Simple Past of Sinn and Hunn and Perfect Tense With Sinn.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

hunn