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In Latin, the pluperfect (plus quam perfectum) is formed without an auxiliary verb in the active voice, and with an auxiliary verb plus the perfect passive participle in the passive voice. For example, in the indicative mood: Pecuniam mercatori dederat. ("He had given money to the merchant"; active) Pecunia mercatori datus erat.
An English pluperfect tense is sometimes appropriate for translating this Latin tense: Atreī fīliī, quī Pelope nātus fuit (Cicero) [217] 'sons of Atreus, who (himself) was born (had been born) from Pelops' In the following examples, the double perfect refers to a situation which existed a long time earlier, before Ovid was exiled:
The passive tenses also have feminine and neuter forms, e.g. amāta est "she was loved", nūntiātum est "it was announced". Forms made with fuī instead of sum and forem instead of essem are also found, for example amātus fuī, amātus fuerō, amātus forem and so on, but these are not common in classical Latin. See Latin tenses.
The normal prose practice is to use either a past tense of dēbeō 'I have a duty to' or oportet 'it is proper' with the infinitive, or else a gerundive with a past tense of sum. The jussive pluperfect is also fairly uncommon. The following examples are from Cicero, again using the negative nē: [41] nē popōscissēs (Cicero) [42]
The usual tense used with postquam is the perfect indicative, when the length of time is given the tense is usually pluperfect: [121] (Hamilcar) nōnō annō postquam in Hispāniam vēnerat occīsus est (Nepos) [122] "Hamilcar was killed in the ninth year after he came to Spain."
The six simple tenses of Latin are divided into two systems: the present system, which is made up of the present, imperfect and future forms, and the perfect system, which is made up of the perfect, pluperfect and future perfect forms. Each simple tense has a set of endings corresponding to the person, number, and voice of the subject.
Consequently, the Latin perfect tense serves both as a true perfect (meaning, for example, I have done), and as a simple preterite, merely reporting a past event (I did). It contrasts with the imperfect, which denotes uncompleted past actions or states. Latin also has pluperfect and future perfect forms.
Latin Example Meaning Comment 'indicative future perfect' dūcere coeperō: present in future 'I will be leading' 'indicative perfect' dūcere coepī: present in present 'I am leading' 'indicative pluperfect' dūcere coeperam: present in past 'I was leading' 'subjunctive perfect' dūcere coeperim-- 'whether I am leading' 'subjunctive pluperfect'