Past Perfect
The Past Perfect is used to talk about an event that happened before another event occurred in the past. This tense shows which event happened first. This means we use the Past Perfect to talk about a past activity that occurred further in the past.
Affirmative sentences in Past Perfect
We use the auxiliary verb had and the Past Participle form of the main verb to form sentences.
Subject + had + Past Participle + the rest of the sentence
I had been to France before.
To shorten sentence we can contract had to ‘d, e.g. I had ⇒ I’d.
Negative sentences in Past Perfect
To form negative sentences we add not between had and the Past Participle.
Subject + had + not + Past Participle + the rest of the sentence
I had not been to France before.
We can shorten had not to hadn’t.
Questions in the Past Perfect
Questions are formed by inversion of had.
Had + subject + Past Participle + the rest of the sentence
Had you been to France before?
The Usage of Past Perfect
We use the Past Perfect to talk about:
+ activity that finished before a specific point in the past
I had been to all major cities in the USA by the time I was 30.
Adam had worked here before 2015.
Adam had worked here before 2015.
+ activity that occurred earlier in the past than the second past activity
Before he went on his trip he had eaten all of his snacks.
By the time she woke up, her husband had already gone to work.
By the time she woke up, her husband had already gone to work.
+ duration of the activity that ended in the past (used with stative verbs)
I had lived in Spain for two years before I moved to the USA last month.
She had had her dog for two weeks before she figured out that it’s a male.
She had had her dog for two weeks before she figured out that it’s a male.
+ unreal and imaginary things in the past (also with “wish” and third conditional
If I had known you were back, I would have called.
I wish I hadn’t eaten that cake!
I wish I hadn’t eaten that cake!
+ reason for something that happened in the past
I was very proud because my daughter had graduated with honors.
I bought a new car because my old one had broken down.
I bought a new car because my old one had broken down.
+ uncertain situations (with expressions as if and as though)
She looked as though she had seen a devil.
It seemed as if he had just shoved everything under the bed quickly.
It seemed as if he had just shoved everything under the bed quickly.
+ experience we had for the first time before a specific time or action in the past
I had never been to Texas before last year’s trip.
We had never seen anything that beautiful before.
We had never seen anything that beautiful before.
+ situations that changed
We had planned to go to the movies but the tickets were sold out.
I had wanted to try it out but I changed my mind.
I had wanted to try it out but I changed my mind.
Other Past Tenses in English
