Breakdown of El avión había aterrizado antes de la hora prevista.
la hora
the hour; the time (on the clock: what time is it?)
el avión
the plane
haber
to have (auxiliary)
antes de
before (+ noun / infinitive)
aterrizar
to land
previsto
scheduled
Questions & Answers about El avión había aterrizado antes de la hora prevista.
Why do we use había aterrizado instead of the preterite aterrizó?
We use the pluscuamperfecto (past perfect) because the landing happened before another specific point in the past. Here, the past reference point is la hora prevista (the scheduled time). Había aterrizado shows that the action was already fully completed by that moment.
Where does the word prevista come from, and why does it end in -a?
Prevista is the past participle of the verb prever (to foresee or plan), functioning here as an adjective. Because it describes la hora, which is a feminine singular noun, it must change its ending to -a to match.
Why do we need the word de in antes de la hora prevista?
When antes (before) is followed directly by the noun it refers to, it requires the preposition de to connect them. You only use antes by itself if you are simply saying beforehand without specifying the event, like if the sentence just ended with aterrizó antes.
Learn El avión había aterrizado antes de la hora prevista and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free