If one describes an action A and an action B in the past, and action A took place prior to action B, the past perfect tense is used for action A. The past tense is usually used for action B.

 

Formation: conjugated forms of haben or sein in the simple past + the past participle of the main verb, e.g.

 

Nachdem sie ihren Vortrag gehalten hatte, ging sie in die Kantine. (After she had given her presentation she went to the canteen.)

Er ging früh ins Bett, nachdem er den ganzen Tag Ski gelaufen war. (He went to bed early after he had been skiing all day.)

Der Boden war nass. Es hatte in der Nacht geregnet.(The ground was wet. It had rained during the night.)

Sie kam spät nach Hause. Sie war in einem Konzert gewesen. (She came home late. She had been at a concert.)

 

 

Note: The choice of haben or sein follows the same rules as in the perfect tense, i.e. most verbs take haben in the past perfect tense.

 

Those that take sein express a change of location, like fahren (to drive), gehen (to go), reisen (to travel) etc., or a change of state like aufwachen (to wake up), einschlafen (to go to sleep) or sterben (to die), as well as sein (to be), bleiben (to stay), gelingen (to succeed), passieren (to happen) or geschehen (to happen). These verbs do not take a direct object.

 

Note: The past perfect tense is not used when listing a sequence of events in the past, even if some actions occurred prior to others, e.g.

Ich duschte, trank eine Tasse Kaffee und verließ das Haus. (I had a shower, drank a cup of coffee and left the house.)