Learn Hardcore Dutch: De koerier had de pakketten al geleverd voordat de deurbel ging. - The courier had already delivered the parcels before the doorbell rang.

Because the sentence describes two past events and wants to stress that the delivery was completed before the doorbell rang. In Dutch you use the past perfect (pluperfect) to show “had done X before Y happened.”
Formation:
• past of hebben (or zijn) → had
• past participle → geleverd

Simple past leverde only narrates a single past action; present perfect heeft geleverd ties the action to the present moment instead of locating it strictly before another past event.

How do you form the past perfect (pluperfect) in Dutch, and why is geleverd the past participle of leveren?

You form the past perfect by combining:

The past tense of hebben or zijn (here had)
The past participle of the main verb

leveren is a regular (weak) verb. To make its past participle you:

take the stem (lever)
add ge- at the beginning
add -d at the end (because the stem ends in a voiced consonant)
→ geleverd

Why does leveren use hebben and not zijn as its auxiliary in perfect tenses?

Most transitive verbs (those that take an object) form compounds with hebben. Only a limited number of motion or state-change verbs use zijn. Since leveren is transitive (“to deliver something”), it pairs with hebben.

What’s the function of al in this sentence, and why is it placed before geleverd?

al means already. In perfect tenses, Dutch usually places temporal adverbs like al, juist, or nog niet between the finite auxiliary and the past participle:
had (aux.) + al + geleverd (participle)
This position highlights that the action was already finished when the next event occurred.

Why is the conjunction voordat used instead of voor or nadat?

voordat = “before” (introduces a full subordinate clause)
nadat = “after” (would invert the time sequence)
voor can only link to a noun or infinitive, not a full clause—unless you add dat (“voordat”).

Here we need a clause (“the doorbell rang”), so voordat is correct:
voordat de deurbel ging (“before the doorbell rang”).

Can I swap the clauses and start with voordat de deurbel ging?

Yes. Just remember that in subordinate clauses the finite verb goes to the end:
Voordat de deurbel ging, had de koerier de pakketten al geleverd.
A comma after the subordinate clause is common for clarity.

Why is ging (simple past of gaan) used for “the doorbell rang,” and could you use a perfect tense there?

In narrative contexts Dutch typically uses the simple past to report completed events:
• de deurbel ging = “the doorbell rang.”
Using the present perfect (is gegaan) with an inanimate subject like deurbel is unusual; simple past is the standard choice.

Why does the subordinate clause voordat de deurbel ging use S-V (subject-verb) word order, while the main clause uses V2 order?

Dutch word-order rules distinguish:
• Main clauses: finite verb in second position (V2) → De koerier had ...
• Subordinate clauses (introduced by conjunctions like voordat): finite verb at the end → voordat de deurbel ging

Always push the finite verb to the end in subordinate clauses.

Why do we use de for koerier, pakketten, and deurbel?

All three nouns are “de-woorden” (common gender) in Dutch, so they take de in both singular and plural:
• singular: de koerier, de deurbel
• plural: de koeriers, de pakketten

How do you pronounce koerier, especially the oe and the double r?

• oe is pronounced /u:/, like the “oo” in English “boot.”
• Dutch r varies by region (guttural or alveolar trill), but it’s more tapped or rolled than the English “r.”
Stress falls on the second syllable: ko-e-RIEr.