Plusquamperfekt in German: The Complete Guide

Sophia Schmidt · German Teacher, Exam Coach (Goethe A1–B1, telc), Content CreatorGerman Teacher, Exam Coach (Goethe A1–B1, telc), Content Creator

Updated: 4 Nov 2026Published: 14 May 2026

· 8 min read

Plusquamperfekt in German: The Complete Guide | Main image

Table of contents

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The Plusquamperfekt is the German tense for an action that happened before another action in the past. English speakers know it as the past perfect ("had done"). It is formed with hatte or war plus the Partizip II, and most learners pick up the form quickly. The harder part is knowing when native speakers actually use it.

Think of it as the "past before the past".

Example

Ich hatte schon gegessen, als er ankam. I had already eaten when he arrived.

Two things happened in the past: first I ate, then he arrived. The earlier action (essen) goes into the Plusquamperfekt, so the listener knows which event came first.

What is the Plusquamperfekt?

The Plusquamperfekt (also called Vorvergangenheit, literally "pre-past") marks the earlier of two past events. It only makes sense when there is a second past moment that acts as a reference point. On its own, without that second event, it usually sounds odd.

You use it to:

show which of two past actions happened first,
go back further in time inside a story (a flashback),
explain the cause of something that happened in the past.

Event	Tense	German	English
A (earlier)	Plusquamperfekt	Sie hatte viel gelernt.	She had studied a lot.
B (later)	Präteritum or Perfekt	Sie bestand die Prüfung.	She passed the exam.
Together	\| Sie bestand die Prüfung, weil sie viel gelernt hatte.	She passed the exam because she had studied a lot.

Use it when you step back from a past event to something that happened even earlier. That earlier action gets the Plusquamperfekt; the main events stay in the Präteritum or Perfekt.

How to form the Plusquamperfekt

Formula: subject + hatte / war (conjugated) + … + Partizip II

You only need to decide two things: haben or sein, and the right Partizip II. The easiest shortcut: use the same auxiliary as in the Perfekt and put it in the Präteritum.

Perfekt	Plusquamperfekt
Ich habe gearbeitet.	Ich hatte gearbeitet.
Ich bin gegangen.	Ich war gegangen.
Ich habe das Buch gelesen.	Ich hatte das Buch gelesen.

haben or sein?

Use haben (→ hatte) with:

most verbs, including all verbs with a direct object (machen, sehen, kaufen),
all reflexive verbs (sich freuen, sich erinnern),
modal verbs (müssen, können, wollen).

Use sein (→ war) with:

verbs of movement from one place to another (gehen, kommen, fahren, fliegen),
verbs describing a change of state (aufstehen, einschlafen, sterben, wachsen),
sein, werden, bleiben and passieren / geschehen.

Verb	Auxiliary	Plusquamperfekt
machen	haben	hatte gemacht
schlafen	haben	hatte geschlafen
gehen	sein	war gegangen
aufstehen	sein	war aufgestanden
sein	sein	war gewesen
werden	sein	war geworden
bleiben	sein	war geblieben

Conjugation

Only the auxiliary changes with the subject. The Partizip II always stays the same.

Pronoun	machen (haben)	gehen (sein)	sich erinnern (reflexive)	einkaufen (separable)
ich	hatte gemacht	war gegangen	hatte mich erinnert	hatte eingekauft
du	hattest gemacht	warst gegangen	hattest dich erinnert	hattest eingekauft
er / sie / es	hatte gemacht	war gegangen	hatte sich erinnert	hatte eingekauft
wir	hatten gemacht	waren gegangen	hatten uns erinnert	hatten eingekauft
ihr	hattet gemacht	wart gegangen	hattet euch erinnert	hattet eingekauft
sie / Sie	hatten gemacht	waren gegangen	hatten sich erinnert	hatten eingekauft

On their own, modal verbs form the Plusquamperfekt with a normal participle: Ich hatte es nicht gekonnt. But when a modal verb is used with another verb, German uses two infinitives instead of the participle:

Examples

Ich hatte am Wochenende arbeiten müssen. I had had to work at the weekend.
Sie hatte nicht kommen können. She hadn't been able to come.

In a subordinate clause, hatte comes before the two infinitives, not at the very end: …, weil ich am Wochenende hatte arbeiten müssen. This is an exception to the usual "verb at the end" rule.

Word order

Main clause: hatte / war in second position, the participle at the end.

Example

Ich hatte den Film schon gesehen. I had already seen the film.

Subordinate clause (nachdem, weil, als, dass …): the participle and then the auxiliary go to the end.

Examples

…, nachdem ich den Film gesehen hatte. …, after I had seen the film.
Ich war müde, weil ich nicht geschlafen hatte. I was tired because I hadn't slept.

Subordinate clause first: the whole clause takes position 1, so the main clause continues with its verb.

Example

Nachdem ich den Film gesehen hatte, ging ich nach Hause. After I had seen the film, I went home.

Plusquamperfekt vs. Perfekt vs. Präteritum

Tense	Main job	Example
Perfekt	the usual past tense in conversation	Ich habe gegessen.
Präteritum	the usual past tense in writing and stories; in speech mainly sein, haben, modal verbs	Ich aß. / Ich war müde.
Plusquamperfekt	the earlier past, before another past event	Ich hatte gegessen.

In a written story, the Präteritum moves the action forward ("what happened next") and the Plusquamperfekt steps back to explain what had already happened before that. For the Präteritum itself, see our guide to the German simple past.

Example

Als Anna nach Hause kam, war die Party schon vorbei. Ihre Freunde hatten lange auf sie gewartet. When Anna came home, the party was already over. Her friends had waited for her for a long time.

Compared with the English past perfect

The idea is the same as in English, but German uses the Plusquamperfekt less consistently. When the order is already clear from words like dann, danach or vorher, German speakers often just use the Perfekt or Präteritum.

Signal words and conjunctions

These words often appear around the Plusquamperfekt because they set up an order of events. Pay attention to which clause gets the earlier action.

Word	Which action is in the Plusquamperfekt?	Example
nachdem (after)	the nachdem clause (earlier action)	Nachdem er gegangen war, rief sie an.
bevor (before)	the main clause (earlier action); the bevor clause is the later one	Bevor sie ankam, hatte ich eine Stunde gewartet.
als (when)	the earlier action, often with schon	Als ich ankam, war sie schon gegangen.
schon / bereits (already)	the action that was already finished	Der Zug war bereits abgefahren.
vorher / zuvor (before that)	the earlier action	Ich hatte vorher noch nie Sushi gegessen.

Don't put the bevor clause in the Plusquamperfekt. It describes the later event: Bevor sie ankam, hatte ich gewartet, not ~~Bevor sie angekommen war, hatte ich gewartet~~.

nachdem: the classic case

Nachdem means "after", so the action in the nachdem clause always happened first. In standard German the tenses follow a fixed pattern:

nachdem clause (earlier)	Main clause (later)	Example
Plusquamperfekt	Präteritum or Perfekt	Nachdem er gegangen war, rief sie an. / … hat sie angerufen.
Perfekt	Präsens or Futur	Nachdem er gegessen hat, geht er spazieren.

In everyday speech you will also hear Nachdem ich gegessen habe, bin ich rausgegangen. This is common, but it is considered non-standard. In writing and in exams, use the Plusquamperfekt after nachdem when the main clause is in the past.

Avoid mixing Perfekt and Präteritum: ~~Nachdem ich gegessen habe, ging ich raus.~~ → Nachdem ich gegessen hatte, ging ich raus.

If nachdem feels heavy in conversation, use two main clauses instead:

Example

Er ist gegangen, und danach habe ich angerufen. He left, and after that I called.

Do Germans actually use the Plusquamperfekt?

Yes, but mostly where the order of events matters.

Written German (books, news, reports): fully standard and common, especially in narratives with the Präteritum.
Spoken German: less frequent than learners expect. Speakers use the Perfekt for most past events and add the Plusquamperfekt mainly to explain something that had happened earlier, or after nachdem.
Regional differences: in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland, speech relies even more on the Perfekt. There you may also hear the doppeltes Perfekt (Ich habe es vergessen gehabt) instead of the Plusquamperfekt. It is common in speech but not standard German.

When it sounds natural, and when it doesn't

The Plusquamperfekt is a precision tool. Use it when you step back in time; don't use it for every past action.

❌ Ich hatte gefrühstückt, ich hatte danach gearbeitet und ich hatte dann einen Freund getroffen. These are three actions in order, with nothing earlier to step back to. ✔️ Ich habe gefrühstückt, dann habe ich gearbeitet und danach habe ich einen Freund getroffen.

A natural use, in written style and in speech:

Examples

Als er ankam, suchte er den Schlüssel. Er hatte ihn am Morgen im Büro vergessen. When he arrived, he looked for the key. He had left it at the office that morning.
Als er angekommen ist, hat er den Schlüssel gesucht. Den hatte er morgens im Büro vergessen. When he arrived, he looked for the key. He'd left it at the office in the morning.

In both versions only the forgetting is in the Plusquamperfekt, because it is the only action that happened before the main events.

Plusquamperfekt passive

To say that something had been done, use war + Partizip II + worden. It is common in reports and formal writing.

Example

Der Brief war schon geschrieben worden. The letter had already been written.

Konjunktiv II of the past

hätte / wäre + Partizip II looks similar, but it is a different form: the past subjunctive. It talks about things that did not happen: regrets, wishes and "what if" situations.

Examples

Wenn ich mehr gelernt hätte, hätte ich die Prüfung bestanden. If I had studied more, I would have passed the exam.
Ich wäre gern mitgekommen. I would have liked to come along.

Don't confuse the two: Ich hatte gelernt (it happened, earlier) vs. Ich hätte gelernt (it didn't happen). Learn more in our guide to Konjunktiv II.

How to master the Plusquamperfekt faster

Think in timelines. When you tell a story in the past, ask: do I need to step back to something that happened even earlier? Only that earlier action gets the Plusquamperfekt.
Start with nachdem and als … schon. These two patterns cover most real-life uses.
Convert Perfekt sentences. Take a Perfekt sentence and move it one step back: Ich habe gearbeitet → Ich hatte gearbeitet.
Write mini-stories. Write three sentences in the Präteritum, then add one sentence explaining what had happened before.
Notice it while reading. In novels and news articles, look for hatte / war + participle and ask what it is earlier than.

Practice: test yourself

Try these 10 exercises, then click "Show translations" to check your answers.

Part A: Put the verb into the Plusquamperfekt

1. Als ich ankam, ___ der Film schon ___. (beginnen) Answer: hatte … begonnen
2. Nachdem wir ___ ___, gingen wir spazieren. (essen) Answer: gegessen hatten
3. Sie war müde, weil sie schlecht ___ ___. (schlafen) Answer: geschlafen hatte
4. Der Zug ___ schon ___, als wir zum Bahnhof kamen. (abfahren) Answer: war … abgefahren
5. Er konnte nicht bezahlen, weil er sein Portemonnaie zu Hause ___ ___. (vergessen) Answer: vergessen hatte
6. Nachdem sie nach Berlin ___ ___, fand sie schnell Arbeit. (umziehen) Answer: umgezogen war
7. Ich ___ vorher noch nie in Wien ___. (sein) Answer: war … gewesen

Part B: Find and correct the mistake

8. Bevor er angekommen war, hatte ich gekocht. Answer: Bevor er ankam, hatte ich gekocht. (The bevor clause is the later event.)
9. Nachdem ich gegessen habe, ging ich nach Hause. Answer: Nachdem ich gegessen hatte, ging ich nach Hause.
10. Ich hatte am Wochenende arbeiten gemusst. Answer: Ich hatte am Wochenende arbeiten müssen. (Double infinitive with a modal verb.)

Frequently asked questions

Is the Plusquamperfekt the same as the past perfect?

Yes. It is the German equivalent of the English past perfect (pluperfect): Ich hatte gegessen = "I had eaten".

What is the difference between Perfekt and Plusquamperfekt?

The Perfekt describes a past event (Ich habe gegessen). The Plusquamperfekt describes an event before another past event (Ich hatte gegessen, bevor ich ging).

Is the Plusquamperfekt still used in spoken German?

Yes, but less often than in English. Speakers use it when they need to make clear that something happened earlier, for example after nachdem.

Is the Plusquamperfekt mandatory after nachdem?

In standard German, yes, when the main clause is in the past. In casual speech you may hear the Perfekt instead, but it is considered non-standard.

Which verbs use sein?

Verbs of movement (gehen, kommen, fahren), verbs of change (aufstehen, einschlafen) and sein, werden, bleiben. They are the same verbs that use sein in the Perfekt.

What is the Vorvergangenheit?

It is the German grammatical term for the Plusquamperfekt. It literally means "pre-past".

Can Germans understand me if I avoid it?

Usually yes, especially in conversation. But in stories and explanations your timeline can become unclear, so it is worth learning.

What is the difference between hatte and hätte?

Hatte forms the Plusquamperfekt (it really happened, earlier). Hätte forms the Konjunktiv II (it didn't happen).

Written by Sophia Schmidt

Sophia is a certified German language expert (Goethe & telc) with over eight years of experience helping learners master German. She specializes in creating high-quality digital learning materials and writing informative articles, while teaching German and preparing students for exams – bringing practical, real-world language skills to every lesson.

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Plusquamperfekt in German: The Complete Guide

What is the Plusquamperfekt?