Lesson 190: Understanding the trapassato prossimo

A reader emailed me recently asking me to explain the differences between the passato prossimo and the trapassato prossimo. Past tenses confuse a lot of learners so let's look at where each tense stands temporally in the examples below.

In this first example:

I miei nonni sono partiti quando ho telefonato.

My grandparents left when I phoned.

In the example above, your grandparents left at the same time that you phoned -- two past events that happened at the same time at some point in the past. But when we substitute the trapassato prossimo for the passato prossimo in the first clause, the meaning changes:

I miei nonni erano partiti quando ho telefonato.

My grandparent had left when I phoned

In the second example, your grandparents are already gone when you phone, having left at some point in the past before you called them on the phone.

Remember that the trapassato prossimo refers to a past event that happened before another past event. The more recent event in the past is expressed with the passato prossimo, passato remoto or the imperfetto.

With the trapassato prossimo you'll often see specific points in the past referenced (ieri, all'una, due giorni fa, etci.), as this helps to differentiate between the more recent past (such as the passato prossimo or the imperfetto) and the less recent event represented by the trapassato prossimo. The trapassato prossimo can be used:

• in dependent clauses -- often certain adverbs and conjunctions will signal the use of the trapassato prossimo, such as siccome (since), già (already), quando (when), dopo che (after), etc., which indicate that some action has taken place or explicitly through the context:
  
  Mia moglie mi ha telefonato stamattina dopo che avevo lasciato un messaggio per lei ieri notte.
  
  My wife phoned me this morning after I had left a message for her last night.
  
  Avevo già buttato il giornale quando me l'hai chiesto.
  
  I had already thrown out the newspaper when you asked me for it.
  
  
• in independent clauses -- when used in this manner, it must be inferred that the action which took place happened in the past before another action, through the use of a specific point in time or through the context:
  
  Ieri sono andato in palestra ma volevo andare con Marco. Purtroppo era andato di mattina.
  
  Yesterday I went to the gym but wanted to go with Marco. Unfortunately, he had gone in the morning.
  
  Danilo: Marco, perchè non hai comprato una nuova macchina invece di riparare quella vecchia?
  Marco: Ah, sì, hai ragione. Non ci avevo pensato.
  
  Danilo: Marco, why didn't you buy a new car instead of repairing that old one?
  Marco: Ah, yes, you're right. I hadn't thought of it.

Don't forget that past participle agrees with its subject in gender and number when the auxiliary is essere.