1. Introduction
The past perfect tense expresses that an action was completed (finished or “perfected”) at some point in the past before something else happened. This tense is formed with the past tense form of “to have” (HAD) + the past participle of the verb
In these examples, Event 1 is the event that happened first and Event 2 is the second or more recent event:
| Event 1 | Event 2 |
| John had gone out | when I arrived in the office. |
| Event 1 | Event 2 |
| I had saved my document | before the computer crashed. |
2. Forming the past perfect
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.
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.
| Subject | had | past participle |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative | ||
| She | had | given |
| Negative | ||
| She | hadn’t | asked. |
| Interrogative | ||
| Had | they | arrived? |
| Interrogative Negative | ||
| Hadn’t | you | finished? |
3. Example
To play in past perfect
| Affirmative | Negative | Interrogative |
|---|---|---|
| I had played | I hadn’t played | Had I played? |
| You had played | You hadn’t played | Had you played? |
| She had played | She hadn’t played | Had she played? |
| We had played | We hadn’t played | Had we played? |
| They had played | They hadn’t played | Had they played? |
50820cookie-checkPast tense 3 – Past perfect tense
