GermanSentence

B1 Tense

Pluperfect

Plusquamperfekt

The pluperfect describes what had already happened before some other past event. It is built like the perfect but with hatte or war instead of hat or ist, and it very often appears in a clause introduced by nachdem.

Sentences that use it(14 of 14)

Real sentences from the lexicon. The marked words are what show the rule.

  • central to this sentence C1

    Im ersten Halbjahr 2025 seien es zum Vergleich knapp 7.300 Menschen gewesen, die freiwillig über das humanitäre Rückkehrförderprogramm ausgereist waren.

    By comparison, in the first half of 2025 there were just under 7,300 people who had left the country voluntarily under the humanitarian return-assistance programme.

    The departures happened before the reference time (the first half of 2025), so the relative clause uses preterite waren plus the past participle.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence B2

    Der Einsatz sei zunächst für sieben Tage vorgesehen. Etwa 30 Bewohner von Monschau-Kalterherberg waren am Sonntagabend wegen einer möglichen starken Rauchbelastung evakuiert worden.

    The operation was initially planned to last seven days. Around 30 residents of Monschau-Kalterherberg had been evacuated on Sunday evening because of possible heavy smoke exposure.

    Preterite of sein plus past participle plus worden expresses an action completed before a past reference point.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence C1

    Zuvor hatten verschiedene SPD-Ministerien dafür plädiert, Klima- und Hitzeschutz im Grundgesetz festzuschreiben.

    Previously, various SPD ministries had called for climate protection and heat protection to be enshrined in the constitution.

    The preterite of haben plus the past participle places the plea before a past reference point (zuvor).

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence C1

    Die damalige Bundesinnenministerin Nancy Faeser (SPD) hatte dies angeordnet, um die Zahl der unerlaubten Einreisen einzudämmen.

    The Federal Interior Minister at the time, Nancy Faeser (SPD), had ordered this in order to curb the number of unauthorized entries.

    The auxiliary 'hatte' plus past participle expresses that the order preceded the event being reported.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence C1

    Der CSU-Politiker hatte den Schritt bereits Ende Juli angekündigt, als zeitweise Zehntausende Migranten die Grenze von Marokko in die spanische Exklave Ceuta in Nordafrika überquerten.

    The CSU politician had already announced the step at the end of July, when tens of thousands of migrants were temporarily crossing the border from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in North Africa.

    The announcement happened before the past reference point set by the als-clause, so German uses the pluperfect hatte angekündigt.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence C1

    Zuvor hatte die Bild-Zeitung berichtet. "Die Entwicklungen an den europäischen Außengrenzen zeigen: Das Zurückdrängen der illegalen Migration braucht weiterhin Kontrollen", sagte Dobrindt der Zeitung.

    Previously, the Bild newspaper had reported. "The developments at Europe's external borders show: pushing back illegal migration continues to need controls," Dobrindt told the paper.

    The auxiliary hatte plus the participle places the reporting before another past event.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence C1

    Um aus dieser Krise herauszukommen, empfiehlt der Wohlfahrtsverband eine grundlegende Reform, fußend auf den Empfehlungen der Sozialstaatskommission der Bundesregierung. Die hatte im Januar in ihrem Bericht 26 konkrete Empfehlungen aufgelistet, wie man den Sozialstaat modernisieren sollte.

    In order to get out of this crisis, the welfare association recommends a fundamental reform, based on the recommendations of the federal government's social state commission. In January, in its report, the latter had listed 26 concrete recommendations on how the social state should be modernised.

    Hatte plus past participle marks that the listing happened before the recommending.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence B2

    Die Regelsätze waren Anfang 2025 erstmals seit 2011 nicht erhöht worden.

    The standard benefit rates had not been increased at the beginning of 2025 for the first time since 2011.

    Past tense of sein plus past participles expresses an event (or its absence) completed before a past reference point.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence C1

    Stets sei dieselbe Pflegerin zuvor dagewesen.

    The same carer had always been there beforehand.

    The pluperfect of 'sein' is formed with the auxiliary and the participle 'gewesen'; here it appears in Konjunktiv I to report that something had happened before.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence C1

    Das Thema Übergewinnsteuer, so die Forderung, solle auf einer Tagung der EU-Wirtschafts- und Finanzminister Mitte September in Dublin auf die Tagesordnung kommen. Mehrere große Ölkonzerne hatten im Juli ihre Quartalsbilanzen veröffentlicht.

    The topic of the excess-profits tax, so the demand, should be put on the agenda at a meeting of the EU economics and finance ministers in mid-September in Dublin. Several large oil corporations had published their quarterly results in July.

    Preterite 'hatten' plus past participle places the publication before the narrated reference time.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence B2

    Seit dem 29. Juli hatte sich Friedrich Merz nicht öffentlich gezeigt und war dafür von vielen Seiten kritisiert worden.

    Since 29 July, Friedrich Merz had not appeared in public and had been criticised for it from many quarters.

    The first clause reports an action completed before a past reference point, so German uses the pluperfect with 'hatte' plus the past participle.

    tagesschau.de
  • central to this sentence B1

    Nachdem er aufgestanden war, hat er sich schnell die Zähne geputzt.

    After he had got up, he quickly brushed his teeth.

    Getting up happened before the brushing, so the earlier of two past events takes the pluperfect.

  • C1

    Auf dem Gelände des ehemaligen Flughafens in Cochstedt, den das DLR 2019 übernommen hatte, wird bereits an zivilen Drohnenanwendungen wie beispielsweise für die Landwirtschaft oder zur Brandbekämpfung geforscht: Das Technologiezentrum arbeitet neben Cochstedt auch am DLR-Standort Braunschweig.

    On the site of the former airport at Cochstedt, which the DLR took over in 2019, research is already being carried out on civilian drone applications such as those for agriculture or firefighting: the technology centre is working not only at Cochstedt but also at the DLR site in Braunschweig.

    The takeover happened before the research began, so the past-of-the-past is used.

    tagesschau.de
  • C1

    Die Indizien sprächen deutlich dafür, dass ein mittlerweile verstorbener Mann das Feuer gelegt habe, teilte die Behörde mit. Das Gebäude der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde München und Oberbayern war am Abend des 13. Februar 1970 mit einem Benzingemisch angezündet worden.

    The evidence, the authorities announced, clearly pointed to a meanwhile deceased man having started the fire. The building of the Israelite Religious Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria had been set alight with a petrol mixture on the evening of 13 February 1970.

    The arson happened before the past reference point of the report, so the passive is cast in the pluperfect.

    tagesschau.de

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