The past perfect: hadde + participle

The past perfect shows that something happened before another point in the past: Da jeg kom, hadde toget gått – when I arrived, the train had left.

We teach Bokmål, the written standard most people in Norway use.

Rules

Form: hadde + past participle. Hadde is the same for every person.
jeg/du/han/hun/vi/dere/de – hadde spist (had eaten) / hadde gått (had gone) / hadde vært (had been)
Timeline: past perfect (first) → simple past (later) → present (now).
Typical linking words: etter at (after), da (when), før (before), fordi (because), allerede (already), aldri før (never before).
Etter at vi hadde spist, gikk vi en tur. – After we had eaten, we went for a walk.
Reported speech moves the tense one step back, as in English: «Jeg har mistet nøkkelen.» → Hun sa at hun hadde mistet nøkkelen. – She said she had lost the key.
«Jeg var syk.» → Han fortalte at han hadde vært syk. – He said he had been ill.
Negation: hadde ikke + participle. In a subordinate clause ikke comes first: …at hun ikke hadde sovet.
In speech Norwegians often drop the past perfect when the order is clear: Etter at vi spiste, gikk vi. In formal writing, use hadde.

Da vi kom til stasjonen, hadde bussen allerede gått.When we got to the station, the bus had already left.
Hun sa at hun hadde bodd i Spania i fem år.She said she had lived in Spain for five years.
Etter at han hadde lest avisen, la han seg.After he had read the paper, he went to bed.
Jeg hadde aldri sett nordlys før jeg flyttet til Tromsø.I had never seen the northern lights before I moved to Tromsø.
Vi var slitne fordi vi hadde gått hele dagen.We were tired because we had walked all day.
Han fortalte at han ikke hadde fått lønn.He said he hadn't been paid.
Hadde du spist før du kom?Had you eaten before you came?