Past Perfect

Past Perfect Tense

Definition: The Past Perfect tense describes an action that was completed before another action or time in the past.


Structure: Subject + had + past participle

Forms:

  1. Positive Sentences:
    • I had (I’d) eaten.
    • You had (You’d) eaten.
    • He/She/It had (He’d/She’d/It’d) eaten.
    • We had (We’d) eaten.
    • They had (They’d) eaten.
  2. Negative Sentences:
    • I had not (hadn’t) eaten.
    • You had not (hadn’t) eaten.
    • He/She/It had not (hadn’t) eaten.
    • We had not (hadn’t) eaten.
    • They had not (hadn’t) eaten.
  3. Questions:
    • Had I eaten?
    • Had you eaten?
    • Had he/she/it eaten?
    • Had we eaten?
    • Had they eaten?

Uses:

  1. Actions completed before another action in the past:
    • I had finished my homework before I watched TV.
    • She had already left when he arrived.
  2. Actions completed before a specific time in the past:
    • They had lived in Paris for five years by 2010.
    • He had worked at the company for a year before he moved to another city.

Difference between Past Perfect and Past Simple:

  • Past Perfect:
    • Focuses on an action completed before another action in the past.
    • Example: I had eaten before he arrived. (First I ate, then he arrived.)
  • Past Simple:
    • Focuses on actions that happened at a specific time in the past.
    • Example: I ate dinner at 7 PM.

Signal Words:

  • Before
  • After
  • By the time
  • Until
  • When
  • Already
  • Just

Examples:

  1. Before another action:
    • I had eaten dinner before they arrived.
    • She had completed the project before the deadline.
  2. Before a specific time:
    • By 6 PM, we had finished our work.
    • He had left by the time I got to the office.
  3. Using ‘already’ and ‘just’:
    • They had already seen the movie.
    • She had just left when I called.

Non-continuous verbs: These verbs are often used in the Past Perfect tense to describe states that were completed before another action in the past. Common non-continuous verbs include:

  • Know, believe, like, love, hate, own, belong

Examples of non-continuous verbs:

  • I had known her for years before we met in person.
  • He had always loved chocolate until he developed an allergy.

The past perfect aspect is used to describe an action or event that occurred before another action or event in the past. It is formed by using the auxiliary verb “had” followed by the past participle of the main verb.  

Here are some examples to illustrate the usage of the Past Perfect aspect:

 

  • I had finished my homework before my friend came over.
    • In this sentence, the action “finishing my homework” (Past Perfect) was completed before the action “my friend came over” (Simple Past).
  • She had already eaten when the restaurant opened for dinner.
    • Here, the action “eating” (Past Perfect) happened before the restaurant “opened for dinner” (Simple Past)
  • By the time I arrived, they had left.
    • The action “leaving” (Past Perfect) occurred before “I arrived” (Simple Past).

The Past Perfect aspect helps to establish a clear sequence of events in the past, indicating which action happened first. It is often used with time expressions like “before,” “after,” “by the time,” “already,” and “just,” which help identify the chronological order of events.

 

  • She had already finished her homework when her friends arrived.
    (The action of finishing the homework occurred before the arrival of her friends.)

 

  • By the time we reached the cinema, the movie had already started.
    (The movie started before the time we reached the cinema.)

 

  • The team had won five consecutive matches before they faced their first defeat.
    (The team won five matches before experiencing their first defeat.)

 

  • I had never seen such a beautiful sunset before that day.
    (The speaker had not witnessed such a beautiful sunset until that specific day.)

 

  • They had completed the project before the deadline.
    (The completion of the project happened before the deadline.)

In each of these examples, the past perfect aspect is used to establish a clear sequence of events in the past, indicating that one action was completed before another. It allows for a better understanding of the temporal relationship between different actions or events in the past.

Using past perfect grammar to describe an event that occurred before another past event:

 

The sun had already set when I arrived at the beach. The sky had turned a beautiful shade of orange, and the stars had started to appear in the darkening horizon. As I walked along the shoreline, I noticed that the waves had calmed down, and the gentle sound of the water had become soothing. Earlier that day, my friends had invited me to join them for a beach bonfire, but I had been occupied with work until late in the evening. By the time I reached the bonfire site, they had already roasted marshmallows and shared stories around the crackling flames. Despite missing the beginning, I was grateful for the peaceful atmosphere and the camaraderie of my friends under the moonlit sky.

Past Perfect Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Fill in the Blanks with the Correct Past Perfect Form

Fill in the blanks with the correct past perfect form of the verbs in parentheses.

  1. By the time we arrived, the movie __________ (start).
  2. She __________ (finish) her homework before she went out to play.
  3. They __________ (leave) before the meeting began.
  4. I __________ (see) the film before, so I knew the ending.
  5. He __________ (study) hard, so he passed the exam.

Exercise 2: Rewrite the Sentences in Negative Form

Rewrite the following sentences in the past perfect negative form.

  1. By the time we arrived, the movie had started.
  2. She had finished her homework before she went out to play.
  3. They had left before the meeting began.
  4. I had seen the film before, so I knew the ending.
  5. He had studied hard, so he passed the exam.

Exercise 3: Form Questions from the Given Sentences

Form questions from the following statements in the past perfect tense.

  1. By the time we arrived, the movie had started.
  2. She had finished her homework before she went out to play.
  3. They had left before the meeting began.
  4. I had seen the film before, so I knew the ending.
  5. He had studied hard, so he passed the exam.

Exercise 1

  1. had started
  2. had finished
  3. had left
  4. had seen
  5. had studied

Exercise 2

  1. By the time we arrived, the movie had not (hadn’t) started.
  2. She had not (hadn’t) finished her homework before she went out to play.
  3. They had not (hadn’t) left before the meeting began.
  4. I had not (hadn’t) seen the film before, so I didn’t know the ending.
  5. He had not (hadn’t) studied hard, so he failed the exam.

Exercise 3

  1. Had the movie started by the time we arrived?
  2. Had she finished her homework before she went out to play?
  3. Had they left before the meeting began?
  4. Had you seen the film before, so you knew the ending?
  5. Had he studied hard, so he passed the exam?