The Past Perfect Compound
When you are telling a story and need to talk about an action that happened before another action in the past, you use the Pretérito Mais-Que-Perfeito Composto (the Past Perfect Compound). In English, this is the equivalent of saying that you had done something.
To form this tense in Portuguese, combine the imperfect tense of the verb ter (to have) with the past participle of your main verb.
| Pronoun | Form of ter |
|---|---|
| eu | tinha |
| tu | tinhas |
| ele/ela/você | tinha |
| nós | tínhamos |
| eles/elas/vocês | tinham |
For most verbs, you form the past participle by dropping the infinitive ending and adding -ado for -ar verbs (like abandonado or esgotado) and -ido for -er and -ir verbs (like perdido or ido).
Missing the Action
You will frequently use this tense to describe what had already occurred by the time you arrived.
| Unfortunately, the audience had already gone away. | Infelizmente, a plateia já tinha ido embora. |
| They said that the tickets had sold out. | Eles disseram que os bilhetes tinham esgotado. |
| I came quickly, but the ceremony had already started. | Vim depressa, mas a cerimónia já tinha começado. |
Connecting Past Events
Because the Past Perfect Compound is all about establishing the timeline of the past, you will frequently see it paired with time markers like quando (when) or conjunctions like porque (because) to show the relationship between two past events.
| When I saw him, the crowd had already abandoned the hall. | Quando o vi, a multidão já tinha abandonado o salão. |
| When we arrived, no slice of cake had been left over. | Quando chegámos, não tinha sobrado nenhuma fatia de bolo. |
| I lost the opportunity because I had fallen asleep. | Perdi a oportunidade porque tinha adormecido. |
| The audience did not stop crying because the band had left. | A plateia não deixou de chorar porque a banda tinha saído. |