Past Perfect Tense
The past perfect tense is used to refer to a time earlier than before now. It is used to clarify the idea that an event occurred before another event in the past. Either event can be placed before the other, as the tense of the sentence indicates the order of the event.
Two events in the past (one action that began and ended before another action)
The past perfect tense consists of the verb (to have) in the past, i.e. (had), followed by the third conjugation of the verb:
1. Affirmative
(subject subject + had + past participle [ p.p ] the third conjugation of the verb….)
Example :
- We had studied English before we moved to Washington
- He had gone out when I arrived in the office
- She had gone out before I came home
2. Negative
(subject + had + not + p.p..)
As long as I have an auxiliary verb (had), then it is what we will do, all I will do is put not after had
( hadn't = had not )
- We hadn't studied English before we moved to Washington
- He e hadn't gone out when I arrived in the office
- You weren't out when you got to the office.
3. Interrogative?
1- Question with an auxiliary verb: (Does...?)
(Had + subject subject + p.p... ? )
answer b:
- Had we studied English before we moved to Washington?
- Had he gone out when I arrived in the office?
2. Question with an interrogative:
(Question word + had + subject + p.p...?)
- She had said that ( she was a heartless woman )
- What had he said that made her so angry?
Uses of the past perfect tense
The past perfect tense is used to express two events that occurred in the past, but one of them occurred before the other.
- I drank the coffee that you had made.
- I drank the coffee you made.
As we can see in this example, the event of preparing the juice took place before the event of drinking, so the verb of preparing the juice was placed in the past perfect tense (had made), and the other verb was placed in the simple past tense (drank).
- After she had finished studying, she went to the cinema.
- I had washed my hands before I had breakfast.
- When we arrived, the movies had started.
- I'd eaten launch so I wasn't hungry .
- He went to the hospital because he had poisoned himself.
- He'd published her first poem by the time he was eight.
- Before I came here, I had spoken to Sam.
The past perfect tense comes with the following words: Functional wordsg
- After
- Before
Examples:
- After I had swim in the pool, I sat in the garden.
- She had learned English before she traveled to England.
Past perfect with just
'Just' is used with the past perfect to indicate an action that took place much earlier than now:
- The bus had just left when I arrived here
- Words that indicate the past perfect tense:
There are no first words you see that put the past perfect tense, you have to focus on the order of events, which one happened before the other.
The event that happened first ⇐ past perfect
The second event is the simple past
- After
- As soon as
- Till/until
- No sooner
- Hardly
- Scarcely
- Before / by the time
- When
Sentences and examples of the past perfect tense
- Before I went to the gym, I had eaten an apple.
- After I had eaten an apple, I went to the gym
- I had eaten an apple before I went to the gym
- I went to the gym after I had eaten an apple.
- I had practiced the nice songs before the program started.
- She had not practiced the song before he sang it in the program.
- I helped her to do the task after I had finished my work.
- My friends hadn't ever gone to Italy.
- After Sofie had finished his work, he went to lunch.
- Sentences and examples of the past perfect tense
- I washed the floor when the paint was gone.
- She began to run after he had seen the cat.
- I had never seen such a nice beach before I went to mallldiv.
- I had lived in a new job, before I moved to London.
- He had washed his hands before he cooked the lunch.
- Sarah Philadelphia so well because she had lived there for five years.
Examples of the past perfect
- She understood the math test because he had been tutored all week.
- Before She did his homework, She had stayed after school for help.
- He had lived in New work before moving to California.
- He had visited several doctors before he found out what the problem was with her hand.
- Sentences in the negative past perfect tense
- She hadn't decided for that.
- She hadn't read the rule before she answered the question.
- I had not played with a ball.
- She had not played with a ball.
- She had not gone home.
- He had not gone home.