El pretérito pluscuamperfecto¹

Meaning. ‘Pretérito pluscuamperfecto’ in Spanish describes an action that is finished (or not) and it happened (or not) before a specific moment in the past. Therefore, when ‘pretérito pluscuamperfecto’ is used, we should be able to imagine two moments in the past: a referencial point and the action in focus, which happened (or not) before such referencial moment.

Ejemplo:

Antes de esta clase, nosotros nunca habíamos estudiado un poema en español.

We had never studied a poem in Spanish before this class.

¹ RAE’s nomination for this verbal tense "pretérito pluscuamperfecto" has been replaced in American textbooks by the English label "Past Perfect", which was then translated as Pasado perfecto. This is due to certain similarities in the use of these verbal tenses in each linguistic system. However, such equivalence shall not be taken as absolute. The meaning of verbal moods, tenses and aspects should always be analyzed in use, obviously in the context of the language we are studying (and never in our native language). In this particular case, there are some aspects of the use and meaning of the "pretérito pluscuamperfecto" that coincide with the English "past perfect". We will take advantage of such coincidences in order to introduce ourselves in the grammar territory of perfect tenses in Spanish. For a thorough description of this verbal tense in Spanish refer to RAE’s Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Manual, pages 451-453 and 461-462.