The Pluperfect Tense

 The pluperfect tense is translated as ‘had’ + verb.

 It is formed using the perfect stem (in a dictionary = a verb’s third principal part) plus the six
endings given below:

Principal parts of porto

1 2 3 4
porto portare portavi portatus
I carry to carry I (have) carried having been carried

portav + eram = portaveram = I had carried

(perfect stem) (pluperfect ending) (verb in pluperfect tense)

-eram I had…
-eras You (s) had…
-erat (S)he / it had…
-eramus We had…
-eratis You (pl) had…
-erant They had…

Section A
Translate the following verbs fully. (Fully means you have to think about three things: who is doing it,
when they are doing it and what are they doing). The first has been done for you.

ambulaveram - I had walked docueras -

tenueras - clauseram -
portaverat - videramus -
festinaveramus - narraverant -
ceperatis - miserat -
salutaverant - laudaveratis -
Section B
Translate the following sentences, all of which contain a pluperfect tense verb.

1) multi Romani res pretiosas regi dederant.

2) Quintus, qui ab Italia fugerat, familiam visitavit.

3) Domitilla, postquam pavimentum purum fecerat, obdormivit.

4) vinum, quod rex ex Italia importaverat, optimum erat.

5) ad villam veneram, sed non aderas. (Note: aderas is imperfect tense from adsum.)

Section C
Find the Latin for the following words. Use CLC Book 2 (page 160) to help you.

1) I had carried -
2) They had taught -
3) You (s) had heard -
4) She had dragged -
5) They had carried -
6) We had taught -
7) You (pl) had dragged -
8) We had heard -

Section D
Remembering to use the third principal part, try making these Latin words (the principal parts have
been provided for you). Remember to take off the person ending for the perfect tense and add the
appropriate pluperfect person ending. The first has been done for you as an example.

She had escaped effugerat (effugio, effugere, effugi)

I had given (do, dare, dedi)
You (s) had bought (emo, emere, emi)
She had seen (video, videre, vidi)
We had held (teneo, tenere, tenui)
You (p) had shouted (clamo, clamare, clamavi)
They had run (curro, currere, cucurri)
Section E
Now try changing these entire English sentences into Latin! (This will also be good revision on the
agreement of adjectives.)

1) Bregans had carried the amphora.

2) Tired Bregans had carried the heavy amphora.

3) Salvius had brought a gift to the king. (fero, ferre, tuli = bring)

4) Happy Salvius had brought a good gift for the sad king. (tristis = sad)