Take the tour ×  I'd sometimes like to indicate a completed
action in the past by using the Plusquamperfekt, as indicated in
the title. Whenever I do this, I seem to get strange looks. I
have a feeling that I am making some kind of conceptual mistake
here.  I wish to express that we did walk here, perhaps more
than once, but have not done so for a while. A German colleague
said the second expression is used much more often than the
first for such a sentiment.  My question is: why?  share|improve
this question The point is, there are differences between
"sprechen" und "schreiben" in German. –  user128 May 25 '11 at
14:33 add comment  7 Answers  up vote 12 down vote accepted  Are
we talking of spoken language here? If yes, then the
'Plusquamperfekt' is rarely used. And when it is used, people
often do it wrong. It is used correctly when expressing a
terminated action in the past that has taken place before
another action in the past. E.g.:  Ich hatte gerade meinen
Sonnenschirm aufgestellt, da zogen dunkle Wolke