Past perfect (had done ~)

② Nepali grammar rules

1. -एको + a past auxiliary

गरेको थिएँ (I had done it) / पढेको थिएँ (I had read it) / गएको थिएँ (I had gone) describe prior completion relative to a past point.
Compare present-relevant गरेको छु (I have done it) with past auxiliary थिएँ.

2. Marking the past reference point

In उहाँ आउँदा मैले काम सकेको थिएँ (I had finished the work when he/she arrived), the work was finished before the arrival. आउँदा supplies the reference time; सकेको थिएँ (I had finished) gives prior completion.
The morphology, not word order alone, expresses this relationship.

3. Personal and respectful forms

Compare म गएको थिएँ (I had gone) / हामी गएका थियौं (we had gone) / उहाँ जानुभएको थियो (he/she had gone, respectful).
Ordinary participles can also show agreement, as in एका.
Learn respectful -नुभएको थियो (had done, part of a respectful perfect form), not invariant गएको थियो (had gone, basic third-person form) for every subject.

4. Negative past auxiliaries

मैले काम सकेको थिइनँ (I had not finished the work) denies completion by the past point; सक्नुभएको थिएन (had not finished, respectful) is respectful.
A simple negative such as सकिनँ presents a different finite-event construction.

5. Compare progressive and habitual past

पढ्दै थिएँ (I was reading) describes ongoing reading, पढेको थिएँ (I had read it) prior completion, and पढ्थें a former routine.
A translation such as was reading does not collapse these three Nepali patterns.

A reference table for comparing personal forms