The name of this tense in Spanish is: "Pretérito pluscuamperfecto".
The construction is:
[SUBJECT] + [' haber' in Imperfect tense (había)] + [PARTICIPLE]
(Yo) había terminado de comer cuando él llegó
I had finished eating when he came
We remember the conjugation of the auxiliary ' haber' in the imperfect tense:
| Conjugation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| yo había | -- |
| tú habías | -- |
| él había/ había | -- there was/were |
| nosotros habíamos | -- |
| vosotros habíais | -- |
| ellos habían | -- |
Like in English with the past perfect, the Pluperfect is used to show that an action was already completed in the past.
Por fin, había publicado mi libro y estaba muy feliz
I finally had published my book and I was very happy
To build the interrogation, change only the position of the subject:
| Affirmation | Interrogation |
|---|---|
| tú habías estudiado you had studied | ¿habías estudiado (tú)? had you studied? |
To form the negation, add the adverb "no" before the verb:
| Affirmation | Negation |
|---|---|
| yo había querido I had wanted | yo no había querido I hadn't wanted |