PAST PERFECT TENSE

Past perfect tense is used to indicate that one action occurred before another action in the past. In other words, past perfect tense indicates the first of the two actions.*
For example,

When I woke up this morning, my roommate had left already. After I had eaten my dinner, I went to see a movie. Before I arrived at the theater, the movie had already begun.

Sometimes, when the meaning is clear from context, the simple past tense can be used.

After I had gone shopping, I stopped at the health spa. After I went shopping, I stopped at the health spa. 

Structure | Use

How do we make the Past Perfect Tense?

The structure of the past perfect tense is:

subject	+	auxiliary verb HAVE	+	main verb
		conjugated in simple past tense		past participle
		had		V3

For negative sentences in the past perfect tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the past perfect tense:

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I	had		finished	my work.
+	You	had		stopped	before me.
-	She	had	not	gone	to school.
-	We	had	not	left.
?	Had	you		arrived?
?	Had	they		eaten	dinner?

When speaking with the past perfect tense, we often contract the subject and auxiliary verb:

I had	I'd
you had	you'd
he had she had it had	he'd she'd it'd
we had	we'd
they had	they'd

 

The 'd contraction is also used for the auxiliary verb would. For example, we'd can mean:

• We had
  or
• We would

But usually the main verb is in a different form, for example:

• We had arrived (past participle)
• We would arrive (base)

It is always clear from the context.

How do we use the past perfect tense? »

The most common error with the past perfect is using it where it does not belong.

When I was young, I had been a cowboy.When I was young, I was a cowboy.

(Incorrect?no reference to other events)(Correct)

Yesterday the Johnsons had opened their new business.Yesterday the Johnsons opened their new business.

(Incorrect)(Correct)

*In some very unusual cases, the past perfect tense can refer to the second past action.

Before I had finished my homework, the telephone rang.(The telephone interrupted me before I finished my homework.)

See also:

Past Perfect (from Englishpage.com)

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How do we use the Past Perfect Tense?

The past perfect tense expresses action in the past before another action in the past. This is the past in the past. For example:

• The train left at 9am. We arrived at 9.15am. When we arrived, the train had left.

The train had left when we arrived.
past	present	future
Train leaves in past at 9am.
9   9.15
We arrive in past at 9.15am.

Look at some more examples:

• I wasn't hungry. I had just eaten.
• They were hungry. They had not eaten for five hours.
• I didn't know who he was. I had never seen him before.
• "Mary wasn't at home when I arrived."
  "Really? Where had she gone?"

You can sometimes think of the past perfect tense like the present perfect tense, but instead of the time being now the time is past.

past perfect tense				present perfect tense
had | done | > |					have | done | > |
past	now	future		past	now	future

For example, imagine that you arrive at the station at 9.15am. The stationmaster says to you:

• "You are too late. The train has left."

Later, you tell your friends:

• "We were too late. The train had left."

We often use the past perfect tense in reported speech after verbs like said, told, asked, thought, wondered:
Look at these examples:

• He told us that the train had left.
• I thought I had met her before, but I was wrong.
• He explained that he had closed the window because of the rain.
• I wondered if I had been there before.
• I asked them why they had not finished.