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How did Hittite form expressions similar to the English perfect tense?

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Map of ancient Anatolia and northern Syria showing the geographic distribution of Anatolian languages, including Hittite, Hattian, Lydian, Phrygian, Palaic, Carian, Lycian, Pisidian, Hurrian, and Urartean. Major historical sites such as Hattusa, Kanesh, and Ugarit are marked, with the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea bordering the region. — Anatolian languages Distribution of the Anatolian languages.

In the Hittite language, expressions similar to the English perfect tense—which indicate an attained state—were formed by combining the past participle with the verbs "have" or "be".1

For example, the phrase "had taken" was constructed using the past participle dān ("taken") followed by the verb harta ("had"). Similarly, the construction for "because they had heard about me" utilized the past participle istamassan ("heard") combined with harker ("they had"). This periphrastic construction is considered remarkably close to the structure of the English perfect tense.1