When navigating airport customs or dealing with travel delays, you might need to explain that something had not happened before a certain point in the past. For this, we use the negative past perfect tense.
Forming the Negative Past Perfect
To make the past perfect tense negative, you simply add the negative prefix نـ (na-) to the past participle of the main verb. The auxiliary verb بودن (to be) remains in the affirmative.
The formula is: نـ + past participle + simple past of بودن
For example, with a simple verb like دیدن (to see):
| The officer had not seen my suitcase inside customs. | مامور چمدانم را داخل گمرک ندیده بود.mâmur chamedânam râ dâkhel-e gomrok nadide bud |
Negating Compound Verbs
As with other tenses, when you negate a compound verb, the negative prefix نـ attaches only to the verbal part (the "light verb", such as کردن or دادن). The non-verbal part of the compound verb stays exactly the same.
For instance, پر کردن (to fill out) becomes پر نکرده بودند (they had not filled out).
| They had not filled out the form. | آنها فرم را پر نکرده بودند.ânhâ form râ por nakarde budand. |
| He had not missed his flight. | او پروازش را از دست نداده بود.u parvâzash râ az dast nadâde bud. |
| I had not checked the validity of my visa. | من اعتبار ویزایم را بررسی نکرده بودم.man e'tebâr-e vizâyam râ barresi nakarde budam |
Customs and Travel Vocabulary
When dealing with official travel procedures, a few key nouns frequently come up, such as گمرک (customs) and جریمه (fine).
| customs | گمرکgomrok |
| fine | جریمهjarime |
Here is how you might hear them used when resolving an issue in the negative past perfect:
| You had not paid the fine. | شما جریمه را پرداخت نکرده بودید.shomâ jarime râ pardâkht nakarde budid. |
| The passport had not become invalid. | گذرنامه باطل نشده بود.gozarnâme bâtel nashode bud. |
