The Pluperfect Tense — Il Trapassato Prossimo

In English this is a compound tense using the auxiliary "had" and a past participle.

In Italian this is a compound tense (i.e. two words) using the imperfect tense of the auxiliary verb avere or essere and the past participle of the verb.

The tense describes an action in the past which took place before another action in the past: e.g.

  1. I looked for my friend but he had already left.
    Ho cercato il mio amico ma lui era già partito.

  2. My sister gave me a present of a book which I had read years ago.
    Mia sorella mi ha regalato un libro che avevo letto anni fa.

Here is the full pluperfect tense of a few verbs:

fare meaning vedere meaning partire meaning
avevo fatto I had done avevo visto I had seen ero partito/a I had gone
avevi fatto you had done avevi visto you had seen eri partito/a you had gone
aveva fatto he/she had done aveva visto he/she had seen era partito/a he/she had gone
avevamo fatto we had done avevamo visto we had seen eravamo partiti/e we had gone
avevate fatto you had done avevate visto you had seen eravate partiti/e you had gone
avevano fatto they had done avevano visto they had seen erano partiti/e they had gone

Exercise 1 Translate the following sentences or clauses into Italian:

  1. When I had finished, ........
  2. They had already arrived.
  3. My parents had bought a house near Naples.
  4. Because I had forgotten to telephone, .....
  5. The train had already left.
  6. They had cancelled our flight.

To check your answers click here.