Past

Perfect
Past
vs

107
Simple
ULA RODOBOLSKA, ALICJA STATKIEWICZ
 Past
Perfect
 I had packed my

Use of Past Perfect suitcases before

the taxi arrived.
By the time you
came we had
discussed all the
Past Perfect Simple has a fairly points on the
limited range of use. We use it to agenda.
talk about activities that ended Had they been in
before another activity or a point New Zeland before
they got married?
in time in the past. This point in
I had replied to all
time can also be a date or an
the emails by
event. noon.
 Past Perfect- use

When we want to describe activities performed before a certain point in time in the past:
By that time, they had finished the test.

With the phrase "It was the first time ..." :

It was the first time I had been robbed.

After the word „wish” :

I wish I hadn’t drunk so much coffee.
Past Perfect- use

To express an unenforceable decision or intention:

We had really wanted to go to England.

III conditional:
If you had come earlier I wouldn't have had to wait for you so long.

Reported speech: ( Past Simple- Past Perfect)

Jane asked where Mark had gone.
 Past Perfect Simple consists of two elements: the „had”
operator (the same for all persons) and the third form verb
(or the ending -ed for regular verbs).

Past Perfect -
sentence structure
 Affirmative sentences:
My dad had bought this motorbike before he met my mum.
They had eaten all the sweets before they had dinner.

Negative sentences:
We had not finished our work by the time our boss came.
I hadn't slept that well until I started meditating.

Questions:
Had she done it before she called us?
Had they watched the movie before he arrived?

Examples
Useful words
before - zanim, przed, np. They had been engaged for
over two years before they got married.
after - po, np. What did you do after you had seen the
accident?
by - I had replied to all the emails by noon.
by the end - przed końcem, np. They hadn’t finished the
project by the end of the set time.
by the time - zanim, przed, np. We had eaten all the cake
by the time Jeremy arrived.
by that time - do tego czasu, np. By that time she had
saved enough money to buy a car.
when - kiedy, np. Jim had known Susan for only a year
when he proposed to her.
how long - jak długo (tylko w pytaniach), np. How long
had you been at home when you noticed that something
was wrong?
Past Simple
Past Simple- use Wolfgang entered a hula
hoop contest.
He won the silver medal.

Did you have dinner last

The simple past is a verb tense that is used to night?
talk about things that happened or existed
before now. The simple past tense shows that She washed her car.
you are talking about something that has
already happened. Unlike the past continuous He didn't wash his car.
tense, which is used to talk about past events
that happened over a period of time, the I didn't see a play yesterday.
simple past tense emphasizes that the action
is finished.
 How to Formulate the Simple Past
For regular verbs, add -ed to the root form of the
verb (or just -d if the root form already ends in an
→ → →
Play Played Type Typed Listen Listened
→ →
Push Pushed Love Loved
For irregular verbs, things get more complicated. The
simple past tense of some irregular verbs looks exactly like
the root form:
→ → → →
Put Put Cut Cut Set Set Cost Cost Hit Hit →
For other irregular verbs, including the verb to be:
→ → → →
See Saw Build Built Go Went Do Did Rise Rose →
→
Am/Is/Are Was/Were
The formula for negative sentenses: Negative sentences
did not + [root form of verb]. You can also
use the contraction didn’t instead of did not.
Wolfgang did not brag too much about his
hula hoop skills.
Wolfgang’s girlfriend didn’t see the contest.

For the verb to be, you don’t need the auxiliary did.
When the subject of the sentence is singular, use was
not or wasn’t. When the subject is plural, use were
not or weren’t.
The contestants weren’t ready to leave either.
 Questions

When asking a question with the

The formula for asking a question in
the simple past tense is did +
[subject] + [root form of verb].
verb to be, you don’t need the
auxiliary did. The formula is
was/were + [subject].
Were people taking lots of pictures?

Did the judges decide fairly, in your

opinion?
Useful words
yesterday - wczoraj
the day before - przedwczoraj
last week - w zeszłym tygodniu
last month - w zeszłym miesiącu
last year - w zeszłym roku
in 1999
in the 19th century - w dziewiętnastym wieku
a year ago - rok temu
two years ago - dwa lata temu
then - wtedy
once - raz, kiedyś
Once upon a time - dawno, dawno temu
S
u
m
m
a
r
y
1) The Past Simple and the Past Perfect are
both tenses we use to talk about things that
happened in the past. However, we use the
Past Perfect to talk about something that
happened before something else in the
past. That ‘something else’ is usually
expressed in the Past Simple tense.
When we arrived, the film had already started. (‘arrived’ is in the
Past Simple and ‘had started’ is in the Past Perfect)
The sentence simply means: First, the film started, then, we
arrived. Both actions happened in the past and the Past Perfect
tense is used to show that one action happened before the other
one.
Note: The order of the main and subordinate sentences does not
affect the meaning and does not require changing the times:
She had packed her suitcases when he returned home = When
he returned home, she had packed her suitcases.
2) If you are talking about a
sequence of events that
happened one after the other
without a significant break in time,
apply Past Simple to all of them.

Example:
Mary opened the door, came in
and took off her coat.
Thank you for
your attention!
We hope you enjoyed the
presentation and learned
something from it. Have a
nice day!