LoginPast Perfect
This detailed lesson covers the Past Perfect Tense in English, featuring examples and a quiz to test your knowledge.
What Is the Past Perfect Tense?
The past perfect tense (also known as the pluperfect) is used to talk about something that happened before something else in the past. It establishes a temporal connection between two actions or events in the past.
Past Perfect: Structure
The past perfect is formed by using the past tense of the verb 'have' (had), followed by the past participle form of the main verb. The past participle is typically formed by adding '-ed' to the end of regular verbs (e.g. looked, ended, tutored) but there are also many irregular forms (e.g. broken, made, understood).
Subject | past tense of have | past participle |
|---|---|---|
All subjects | had | worked |
When using the past perfect tense in speaking, we often contract the auxiliary verb. Here are the examples:
My new job wasn't exactly what I had expected. → My new job wasn't exactly what I'd expected.
When we arrived, she had left. → When we arrived, she'd left.
Past Perfect: Negation
To form negative sentences, 'not' is added after the auxiliary verb 'had.' Here are some examples:
He had published his first poem when he was 27. → He had not published his first poem when he was 27.
We had left. → We had not left.
In negative sentences, we can contract 'not.' See the example:
We had not left. → We hadn't left.
Past Perfect: Questions
To form yes/no questions, we invert the subject and 'had.' Look at these examples with the past perfect tense:
They had arrived. → Had they arrived?
She had eaten dinner. → Had she eaten dinner?
To make wh- question, add the proper wh-word at the beginning of the sentence and then invert the subject and the auxiliary. Take a look at the examples:
She had gone to Paris. → Where had she gone?
Here 'to Paris' is the answer that is omitted in the question.
They had left in June. → When had they left?
Past Perfect: Uses
The past perfect tense is used to talk about:
Actions that happened before another action in the past
Actions that happened before a specific time in the past
States that started in the past, and continued up to some time in the past
Actions That Happened Before Another Action in the Past
We use the 'past perfect tense' to indicate the order of two past events. The past perfect shows the earlier action and the past simple is used to refer to the later action. So, if there are two actions following each other, the simple past is used for the action closest to the present, and the past perfect is used for the action that came before it.
When the police arrived, the thief had escaped.
The order of the clauses does not matter in this sentence. 'The thief had escaped when the police arrived' has the same meaning.
I had fed the cat before I ate my dinner.
Actions That Happened Before a Specific Time in the Past
The 'past perfect tense' is also used to talk about something that started in the past and continued up to a specific time in the past. In this case, the past perfect can emphasize for how long an action had been happening. Here are the examples:
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.
They had left the party by the time I arrived.
States That Started in the Past and Continued up to Some Time in the Past
We use past perfect with stative verbs such as 'like', 'think', 'love', 'hate', 'believe', etc., to refer to a state that started in the past and continued up to another time in the past. Take a look at some examples:
She had known the truth for years before she told anyone.
By 2010, he had been a member of the club for a decade.
Common Time Expressions
Here is a list of adverbs and prepositions commonly used with verbs in the past perfect tense:
Here are some example sentences:
I called his office but he'd already left.
Already means 'before the specified time', so the sentence means 'before I called the office, we had left).
It still hadn't snowed at the beginning of December.
Still means 'continuing until a particular point in time and not finishing'.
She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever met.
Ever means 'at any time before the specified time'.
I had never been a fan of his work.
Never means 'at no time before the specified time'.
We can also use the past perfect + 'before' to show that something happened while another action was not done or was incomplete. Check out these examples:
They had left before I spoke to them.
Unfortunately, the man had died before he saw his daughter's wedding day.
We use 'just' with the past perfect to refer to an event that happened only a short time before now. For example:
The train had just left when I arrived at the station.
Warning
Note that if there's only a single event and no adverb indicating a time up to a point in the past, we do not use the past perfect, even if it happened a long time ago. For instance:
Early humans lived in caves. (Not "Early humans had lived in caves.")
Clause Types that Require the Past Perfect
Reported Speech
We often use the past perfect in reported speech after verbs like 'said,' 'told,' 'asked,' 'thought,' 'wondered,' etc.
Here are some examples:
He told us that the train had left.
He explained that he had closed the window because it was chilly.
The Third Conditional
The 'past perfect tense' is also used in the third conditional mood to talk about unreal or imaginary situations in the past. In this case, the situation expressed in the past perfect tense expresses a hypothetical condition.
Have a look at the examples:
If I had known you were sick, I would have visited you.
She would have passed the exam if she had studied harder.
Subjunctives
You can use the 'past perfect tense' in subjunctive sentences with the verb 'wish' to talk about a desire or intention that was not fulfilled. It expresses unrealized goals or past regrets.
For example:
I wish I had studied harder.
She wishes she had never met him.
Review
The table below summarizes the structure of past perfect tense in affirmative, negative, and interrogative forms.
Structure | subject + had + past participle |
|---|---|
Affirmative | His sister had talked to the principal. |
Negative | His sister had not talked to the principal. |
Contraction | His sister hadn't talked to the principal. |
Yes/no question | Had his sister talked to the principal? |
Wh-question | Who had talked to the principal? |
We use the past perfect tense to talk about:
an action happening before another action
a finished action before a point of time in the past
states that started in the past, and continued up to some time in the past
Quiz:
Choose the correct sentence using the Past Perfect.
By the time we arrived at the cinema, the movie had started.
By the time we arrived at the cinema, the movie started.
By the time we had arrived at the cinema, the movie started.
By the time we had arrived at the cinema, the movie had started.
Sort the words to make a negative sentence in the Past Perfect.
Match each sentence with the correct function of the past perfect tense.
Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in parentheses.
By the time the concert started, the band
(finish) their soundcheck.
She
(never/visit) Italy before her honeymoon in Rome.
She said that she
(meet) him before.
Where
(they/go) before the storm began?
(she/call) the hotel before they arrived?
Which sentence correctly uses a time expression with the past perfect?
I had visited the museum yesterday.
We had gone there every summer.
She had just finished her meal when the phone rang.
He had left soon.
Comments
(5)Yes, it is correct. The verb is the past perfect tense, which is used to describe an action that was completed before another past action. The sentence means the speaker had not ridden a bicycle for 20 years before the time they are referring to in the past.
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