The Pluperfect Tense

The pluperfect tense is a verbal form that expresses an action fully completed before some event or some moment in the past. It may be used as an equivalent of the past perfect tense in English.

In Urdu, the pluperfect is formed by adding the verb 'to be' in the past tense to the past participle. (Note: The table below shows only masculine forms.)

Person	Singular	Plural
First	میں آیا تھا maiN aayaa thaa 'I had come'	ھم آئے تھے ham aae the 'we had come'
Second	تو آیا تھا tuu aayaa thaa 'you had come'	تم آئے تھے tum aae the 'you had come'
Third	وہ آیا تھا vah aayaa thaa 'he had come'	وہ آئے تھے vah aae the 'they had come'

The feminine forms of the verb 'to be' (تھی thii and تھیں thiiN) are used with the feminine participles:

وہ آئی تھی

vah aaii thii

'She had come'

وہ آئی تھیں

vah aii thiiN

'They (women) had come'

When the pronoun آپ aap is used as an honorific personal pronoun, it requires the plural form of the participle and of the verb 'to be'.

The rules of agreement are the same as in the perfect tense. Thus:

تم نے کام کیا تھا

tum ne kaam kiyaa thaa

'you had done the work'

لڑکے نے چٹھی لکھی تھی

laRke ne ciTThii likhii thii

'A boy has written a letter'

In negative sentences in the pluperfect tense, the negative particle نہیں nahiiN is most often put before the participle.

تم نے کام نہیں کیا تھا

tum ne kaam nahiiN kiyaa thaa

'you hadn't done the work'

In Urdu, there is one other form that expresses the pluperfect tense. It is formed from the stem of the main verb followed by the verb چکنا cuknaa 'to end, to be finished' in the pluperfect tense. The participle always agrees with the subject of the sentence, and the postposition نے ne is never used:

عورتیں کام کر چکی تھیں

aurateN kaam kar cukii thiiN

'The women had done the work'