1. Alphabet & Pronunciation
1.1. Vowels
2. Similarities to English
2.1. Capitalization
2.2. Negation
2.3. Punctuation & Written Accents
3. Gender & Plural
4. Cardinal Numbers
5. Subject Personal Pronouns
6. Present Indicative Tense I
7. The Articles
8. Interrogative Pronouns & Adjectives
9. Basic Phrases
1. Prepositions
2. Present Indicative Tense II – Irregular Verbs
3. The Verb “To Be”: “Ser” vs. “Estar”
4. Future Tense
5. Possessive Adjectives & Pronouns
6. Demonstrative Adjectives & Pronouns
7. Object Personal Pronouns
8. Relative Pronouns
9. Ordinal Numbers I
10. Times & Seasons
1. “Por” vs. “Para”
2. The Verb “To Know”: “Saber” vs. “Conhecer”
3. Indefinite Adjectives & Pronouns
4. Present Progressive Tense
5. Present Perfect Tense
6. Special Uses of “Haver” & “Ter”
7. Telling Time & Describing Weather
8. Adverbs
9. Directions
1. Degrees of Comparison: Comparatives & Superlatives
2. Past Tense: Preterite vs. Imperfect
3. Conjunctions
4. Reflexive Pronouns & Verbs
5. Time Expressions: Ainda, Já, Acabar, and Desde
6. Present Subjunctive Tense
7. Future Perfect Tense
1. Imperative Mood & Giving Commands
2. Simple Conditional Tense
3. Future Subjunctive Tense
4. Perfect Subjunctive Tense
5. Imperfect Subjunctive Tense
6. Past & Conditional Progressive Tenses
7. Interjections
1. Ordinal Numbers II
2. “Would/Should/Could Have …”
3. Pluperfect Indicative Tense
4. Pluperfect Subjunctive Tense
5.”Although” & “Despite”
6. Passive Voice & Impersonal “Se”
7. Diminutives & Augmentatives
In Portuguese, the pluperfect indicative tense, literally meaning the more than perfect tense, describes the past before the simple past.
If two actions took place in the past, the one that occurred before is often described in the pluperfect tense.
Conjugation
The pluperfect indicative is formed as follows:
| “Ter” or “Haver” in the imperfect + past participle |
The pluperfect indicative uses the verb “ter” in the imperfect and is conjugated as follows:
| -ar ending e.g., falar | -er ending e.g., comer | -ir ending e.g., partir | ||
| eu | tinha | falado | comido | partido |
| ele/ela/você | tinha | |||
| nós | tínhamos | |||
| eles/elas/vocês | tinham |
Examples
Here are some examples the pluperfect indicative tense in Portuguese in context:
| Antes de nos conhecermos, eu nunca tinha ido na Espanha. | Before we met, I had never been to Spain. |
| Quando fui visitar minha mãe, minha irmã já tinha chegado. | When I visited my mom, my sister had already arrived. |
| Depois que o jogo tinha sido cancelado, os torcedores foram para casa. | After the game had been canceled, the spectators went home. |
Next: Pluperfect Subjunctive Tense
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