These days I read more in Portugese than I do in English, actually I finish the books faster when they are in Portuguese, which to some is strange. I think they think I mean that I understand Portuguese better than English, which isn’t true. It’s just that I am more motivated to have another book in Portuguese under my belt than one in English.

One tense has perplexed me for a while now and I never bothered to check it out until now even though after time, I started to get the gist of what it meant. The tense is called the “pretérito mais-que-perfeito” (past perfect/pluperfect) and I’ll explain it to you below using someone else’s response to a question on the matter here (click to learn a little more).

Take any verb and add an “a” on the end although not an accented “a” and what do you get? You get confused, or at least I did…until now. The tense in question for this post refers to a past event that occurs before another action in the past. Here are some examples.

“Ele nunca tinha comido salmão até visitar aquele restaurante = Ele nunca comera salmão até visitar aquele restaurante (He had never eaten salmon before he visited that restaurant)

Disse-me que não tinha pensado no assunto antes de chegar = Disse-me que não pensara no assunto antes de chegar (He told me he hadn’t thought about the issue before he arrived)

The tense is seldom used in the spoken language, although it appears in literature and in situations when someone is recounting a past event (e.g. historical documentaries).”

So, now you know! Happy reading!