Verbs: Past Perfect

Quando avevate parlato?

In English, we can say I had used or I had worked when we're talking about something we don't do anymore. You can do basically the same thing in Italian!

First, use the past form of avere that matches who you're talking about.

subject	verb (avere)
io I	avevo had
tu you	avevi had
lui / lei he / she	aveva had
noi we	avevamo had
voi you all	avevate had
loro they	avevano had

Then you'll change the next verb ending to ‑ato, ‑uto, or ‑ito.

Pochi avevano creduto.

Few had believed.

Il lupo ci aveva seguito tutta la notte.

The wolf had followed us the whole night.

Noi avevamo aspettato quell'autobus.

We had waited for that bus.

To have or to be?

The past of avere plus a verb is used to say things like io avevo parlato, which means I had spoken.

But some verbs that talk about motion (like venire and andare) use essere instead of avere.

Eri venuto dalla città.

You had come from the city.

Come pensavamo, lui era andato all'estero.

As we thought, he had gone abroad.

Verbs that include extra little words, like mi ero ricordato, also use essere in these cases.

Lui si era ricordato del mio compleanno.

He had remembered my birthday.

I dolci mi erano piaciuti molto.

I had liked the desserts a lot.

Non era stato un problema

Remember that verbs that use the past of essere have different endings depending on who is doing what. The endings change depending on gender...

Lui era passato sotto il ponte.

He had passed under the bridge.

Lei era andata a scuola con i genitori.

She had gone to school with her parents.

... and they also change depending on whether you're talking about one person or multiple people.

I ragazzi erano entrati senza biglietti.

The boys had entered without tickets.

Quasi tutte le mucche erano arrivate.

Almost all the cows had arrived.

Lei era andata al supermercato.

She had gone to the supermarket.