Past Perfect Tense

Verbs have different forms, called tenses. The tense of a verb tells us when the action happens.

Forming the Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect consists of two verbs: helping verb (had) and main verb (past participle).

had + past participle = past perfect tense

When to use the Past Perfect?

The past perfect takes place before another past action.

Examples:

Suddenly he remembered where he had hidden the money. (past action – remembered, past perfect – had hidden)

I noticed that he had left his books behind. (past action – noticed, past perfect – had left)

When he reached the bus stop, the bus had already left. (past action – reached, past perfect – had left)

Forming the Negative

We form the negative by adding not after the helping verb had.

had + not + past participle

Contraction (or short form):

had not = hadn’t

 

Examples:

The clock struck eleven, and he still had not gotten out of bed.

We hadn’t been at the party long when Jack arrived.

Differences between the present perfect tense, past perfect tense and future perfect tense

The present perfect tense connects the past with present.

The past perfect tense takes place before another action in the past.

The future perfect tense takes place before another action in the future.

Examples:

Since last Tuesday, I have woken up early. (present past tense)

Before this week, however, I had never woken up so early. (past perfect tense)

By the end of this week I will have woken up early four times. (future perfect tense)

Videos

The following video shows how to make the past perfect tense: had + past participle. The past perfect shows that something happened before another past event.

The following video examines the use of perfect tenses in both the simple and continuous aspect - past, present and future forms. In grammatical terms, perfect tenses are used to refer to completed or finished events.

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