Past Perfect

Simple
 When to use?

• The past perfect expresses the idea that something occurred before another
action in the past. It can also show that something happened before a
specific time in the past.:
• When we arrived, the film had started (= first the film started, then we arrived).
• He had finished his homework by 6 o’clock yesterday (=his homework were done
before 6 o’clock)
 When to use?

• Situation or state that started in the past and continued up to another action
or time in the past (stative verbs):
• When he graduated, he had been in London for six years. (= He arrived in London six
years before he graduated and lived there until he graduated, or even longer.)
• We had had that car for ten years before it broke down.
Example
 How to form statements?
Singular Plural
First Person I had + Past Participle We had + Past Participle
Second Person You had + Past Participle You had + Past Participle
Third Person He/she/it had + Past They had + Past Participle
Participle
 Example:
I had done. We had worked.
You had read. You had written.
He/she/it had slept. They had lived.
 How to form negatives?
• To make a past perfect verb negative, place not after the auxiliary verb:
• I/You/They had not gone
• He/She/It had not gone
 Contracted Forms:
long form contraction example
had …’d they’d
had not …’d not/… hadn’t I’d not/I hadn’t

• You will often hear these contractions in conversation or see them in

informal writing, but you will rarely find them used in formal contexts.
 Yes/No Questions
• To form yes/no questions, begin the question with the auxiliary verb had.
Place the auxiliary verb “had” before the subject and the past participle
form of the main verb:
Statement: She had taught in Mexico before she moved here.
Yes/no question: Had she taught in Mexico before she moved here?
 How to form “Wh” questions?
Subject Question:
• In wh-questions, when the question word is the subject of the sentence, the
form of the question is similar to the form of a statement:
• Statement: Jackie had not studied English before coming to the United States.
• Wh-question: Who had not studied English before coming to the United States?
 How to form “Wh” questions?
Any Other Part:
Question word + the auxiliary verb had + subject + past participle form
of the main verb, etc.
• Statement: He had walked two miles before he realized his mistake.
• Wh-question: How far had he walked before he realized his mistake?
 Time Expressions
• The time expressions already, for, since, and yet may be used in the past perfect
simple, as they are in the present perfect simple.
• Remember the following rules for using other time expressions:
• Use after, as soon as, no sooner than, the moment that, until before using the past
perfect simple:
After she had moved out, I found her notes./ I didn’t say anything until she had
finished talking.
• Use before, when, by the time before the past simple:
Ex. Before I knew it, she had run out the door. / By the time he phoned her, she had
found someone new.
Any Questions?
Thank you for your attention!