5779 Tense - Pluperfect

     The pluperfect tense in Greek occurs rarely.  It corresponds
     in a single Greek word to the sense of the English pluperfect,
     which indicates an event viewed as having been once and for
     all accomplished in past time.  In contrast, the perfect tense
     reflects the final completion of an action at the present
     moment described.

     In translation the Greek pluperfect may not always follow the
     rendering of the English pluperfect, due to excessive wordiness.
     The English pluperfect is normally formed with the past tense
     of the "helping" verbs "to have" or "to be," plus the past
     participle, e.g., "He had finished."   The English perfect
     is formed by the present tense of the helping verb plus the
     past participle, e.g., "He has finished."