FUNCTIONS OF THE PAST PERFECT
We don’t use the past perfect a lot in English, but it is useful, and it sounds very good if you can use it correctly. Also, it’s really easy to make – just the past simple of ‘have’ and the past participle.
The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first – the tense makes it clear which one happened first.
In these examples, Event A is the event that happened first and Event B is the second or more recent event:
Event A Event B
John had gone out when I arrived in the office.
Event B Event A
When they arrived we had already started cooking.
Event B Event A
He was very tired because he hadn’t slept well.
FORMING THE PAST PERFECT
The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts:
The past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.
Subject had past participle
Affirmative
She had given
Negative
She hadn’t asked.
Interrogative
Had they arrived?
PAST PERFECT + JUST
‘Just’ is used with the past perfect to refer to an event that was only a short time earlier than before now, e.g.
Example:
The train had just left when I arrived at the station.
She had just left the room when the police arrived.
I had just put the washing out when it started to rain.
Other Example
Affirmative
- I had been (I’d been)
- You had gone (you’d gone)
- She had met (she’d met)
- He had played (he’d played)
- It had rained (it’d rained)
- We had bought (we’d bought)
- They had studied (they’d studied)
Negative
- I had not been (I hadn’t been)
- You had not gone (you hadn’t gone)
- She had not met (she hadn’t met)
- He had not played (he hadn’t played)
- It had not rained (it hadn’t rained)
- We had not bought (we hadn’t bought)
- They had not studied (they hadn’t studied)
‘wh’ questions
- When had I come?
- Why had you eaten?
- Where had she gone?
- When had it rained?
- Why had he studied?
- How had we met?
- When had they left?
‘yes / no’ question
- Had I come?
- Had you eaten?
- Had she gone?
- Had it rained?
- Had he studied?
- Had we met?
- Had they left?