رفته بودم / نرفته بودم

The Past Perfect

Level 4

رسیده + بودم → رسیده بودم. Earlier arrival → later past event.

How It Works

Build the person forms. Keep رفته and change the auxiliary: رفته بودم، رفته بودی، رفته بود، رفته بودیم، رفته بودید، رفته بودند. Write the participle and بودـ form as separate words.

Put events in order. In وقتی رسیدم، جلسه شروع شده بود, the meeting started before my arrival. In وقتی رسیدم، جلسه شروع شد, the starting is placed at that point or after it in the narrative. The auxiliary changes the relation between the events.

Negate the earlier event. Put نـ on the lexical participle: نرسیده بودم. A compound keeps its first part: هنوز کار نکرده بودم. Do not move this ordinary negation onto بودم.

A reference can stay implicit. A reply such as قبلاً آنجا را دیده بودم can rely on a past moment already under discussion. The form does not require the English word already in every translation.

Examples (4)

  1. وقتی رسیدم، جلسه شروع شده بود.

    When I arrived, the meeting had started.

  2. قبل از سفر، بلیت‌ها را خریده بودیم.

    Before the trip, we had bought the tickets.

  3. وقتی زنگ زدی، هنوز به خانه نرسیده بودم.

    When you called, I had not reached home yet.

    The negative belongs to نرسیده.

  4. سارا قبلاً در آن شرکت کار کرده بود.

    Sara had worked at that company before.

    The compound participle remains کار کرده.

How It Connects

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رفته بودم / نرفته بودمLevel 4The Past Perfect

Learn This First

The participle names the completed event. The past auxiliary identifies the subject and the earlier-past relation.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.