Past Perfect Tense

 

 

Forming the Past Perfect Tense

 

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.

Positive form:

 

S + had + past participle + …       

E.g. She had finished.

 

Negative form:

 

S + had not + past participle + …                

(had not = hadn’t)

E.g. She hadn’t finished.

 

Question form:

 

Had + S + past participle + …?                      

E.g. Had she finished?

 

When do We Use the Past Perfect Tense

 

• Action finished before another past action       

E.g. Richard had gone out when his wife arrived in the office.

• The action happened before a specific time in the past

E.g. Christine had never been to an opera before last night.

• The action started in the past and continued up to a given time in the past    

E.g. We had owned that car for ten years before it broke down.

• Cause and effect (combine with Past Simple)               

E.g. I got stuck in traffic because there had been an accident.

• Emphasize the result of activity in the past                 

E.g. I had been to London twice by the time I got a job in New York.

 

Time Expressions in the Past Perfect Tense

 

• already
• yet
• for
• since
• never
• just
• after
• before
• until
• the moment that