Past perfect: Structure, uses and examples

He past perfect in english (past perfect) is a tense used to express an action that occurred before another past action. For example: When I arrived at the party, Emma had left. / When I got to the party, Emma was gone.

The past perfect in English is equivalent to the past tense pluperfect in Spanish (he had gone, he had said). As in Spanish, the past perfect It is used in relation to another past tense to express priority. For example: I didn't want to see the play (past), because I had already seen Item (previous past). / I didn't want to see the play, because I had already seen it.

While the actions in past simple (past simple) follow a chronological order, the actions in past perfect (past perfect) refer to a previous time, that is, they express an inverse order.

• Chronological order. For example: When we got to the movie theater (past simple), the movie started (past simple). / When we got to the cinema, the movie started.
• reverse order. For example:When we got to the movie theater (past simple), the movie had started. (past perfect).
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  / When we got to the cinema, the movie had started.

He past perfect is one of the three narrative tenses (narrative tense) with him past simple(past simple) and the past continuous (past continuous).

• See also: Prayers in "past simple»

Structure of the past perfect in English

The past perfect in English (past perfect) is a compound tense formed with the auxiliary had+ past participle (participle of the main verb). The Auxiliar hadit is the same for all pronouns.

Affirmative past perfect structure

Subject	had	past participle
Yo you I have She Item We They	had	gone

For example: Yo had seen Peter before. / I had already seen Peter before.

Attention:'d is the contraction of the auxiliary had. For example: Yo’d seen Peter before.

Negative past perfect structure

The negative form of past is constructed by negating the auxiliary had.

Subject	hadn't	past participle
Yo you I have She Item We They	hadn't	eaten

For example:Yo hadn't seen Peter before. / I hadn't seen Peter before.

Attention:hadn'tis the contraction of hadn't.

Interrogative structure of the past perfect

The questions in past perfectare constructed by preceding the auxiliary had to the subject.

Had	subject	past participle
Had	Yo you I have she Item we they	finished?

For example: Had you seen Peter before?/ Have you seen Peter before?

Use of the past perfect in English

The past perfect in English (past perfect) is used for:

• Express that an action occurred before another past action. For example:I didn't go to the museum because I she had visited it twice before./ I didn't go to the museum because I had already visited it twice before.
• Tell a story or narrative in an order other than chronological. For example: When we arrived home last night, thieves had broken into. / When we got home last night, the thieves had broken in to steal. (the second action mentioned had occurred before the first).
• In relation to another verb in past simple(past simple) that was mentioned before or is implied in the context. For example: Yo had already seen the movie (before this time)./ I had already seen the movie (before this time).
• In reported speech sentences, to report sentences that originally used the present perfect (present perfect) or the simple past (past simple). For example:I spoke to Mary yesterday.(direct style) - He said that he had spoken to Mary the day before.(indirect style)
• in sentences in third conditional, to express a hypothetical condition in the past. For example: If I had known about his problem of him, I would not have asked that question.

• See also: Regular verbs in English

past perfect and past simple

PAST SIMPLE	PAST PERFECT
It is used when the order of the story is chronological. Yo had a shower and then I left.	It is used when the order of the story is not chronological. I left; Yo had had a shower before.
Next to before either despues de context means which action occurred first (even if they are not chronological). despues de I have heard the news, he started crying.	Next to beforeeither despues de is optional to use past perfect, since from context it is clear which action occurred first. If used, it sounds more emphatic. despues de I have had heard the news, he started crying.

• See also: Sentences with "wace" and "were”

Examples of sentences in past perfect in English

1. When I got home last night, my mother had already prepared dinner.
   When I got home last night, my mom had already made dinner.
2. Tommy had never seen a bear before he moved to Alaska.
   Tommy had never seen a bear before moving to Alaska.
3. Max knew Paris because he she had visited the city several times.
   Max knew Paris because he had visited the city several times.
4. When I handed in the test, I realized that I she hadn't answered the last question.
   When I handed in the test, I realized that he hadn't answered the last question.
5. John was nervous during the flight because he had never flown before.
   John was nervous during the flight because he had never been on an airplane before.
6. When I came back home after so many years, I discovered that the city had changed a lot.
   When I returned home after so many years, I found that the city had changed a lot.
7. The house was dirty because we hadn't cleaned it for several days.
   The house was dirty because we had not cleaned it for several days.
8. Yo hadn'tfinished shopping when you called me.
   I hadn't finished shopping when you called me.
9. The children passed their exams, even if they hadn't studied much.
   The children passed their exams even though they had not studied much.
10. Fortunately, I hadsaved my document before the program crashed.
    Fortunately I had saved my document before the program closed.
11. They had never lived in a capital city before they moved to London.
    They had never lived in a capital city before moving to London.
12. I didn't see Tim because he had already left.
    I didn't see Tim because he was already gone.
13. We had never traveled to the U.S. before last year.
    We had never traveled to the United States before last year.
14. Ronnie and Stefanie she hadn't met before the party.
    Ronnie and Stefanie had not met before the party.
15. She had begun the medical treatment when the doctors decided to operate on her.
    She had started medical treatment when the doctors decided to operate on her.
16. When I arrived at the concert, it had already started.
    When I got to the concert, it had already started.
17. Yo had had that house for nine years before I sold it.
    She had owned that house for nine years before selling it.
18. Yo had eaten a sandwich before lunch, so I wasn't hungry.
    She had eaten a sandwich before lunch, so she wasn't hungry.
19. Had you been waiting long before the bus arrived?
    Had you been waiting long before the bus arrived?
20. Julie couldn't come to my party because she had made other plans.
    Julie couldn't come to my party because she had other plans.

He past participle

He past participle (third column of verbs) is a non-conjugated form of verbs that is used to form compound tenses in English (perfect tenses): he present perfect, he past perfect or the future perfect.

He past participle of the regular verbs is formed by adding the ending –Ed to the infinitive of the verb.

For example: play – played; live- lived; wach – wached.

The irregular verbs do not follow a rule for the formation of the past participle:

Infinitive verb	past participle	Translation
baby	been	been
begin	begun	started
blow	blown	blown
bite	bitten	bitten
break	broken	broken
bring	brought	brought, taken with them
build	built	built
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	taken, seized
choose	chosen	chosen one
eat	eat	I come
cost	cost	side stand
do	donate	made
drink	drunk	drunk
drive	driven	driven
eat	eaten	Eaten
find	found	found
forbidden	forbidden	forbidden
forget	forgotten	forgotten
get	gotten	got
give	given	given
go	gone	gone
have	had	had
hear	heard	ear
hit	hit	struck
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known, known
learn	learned either learned (regular)	learned
leave	left	left, left, abandoned
lend	slow	borrowed
I know	lost	lost
make	made	made
meet	met	gathered, found
pay	paid	paid
read	read	read
put	put	position
rising	risen	uploaded
run	run	run
say	said	saying
see	seen	seen
send	felt	sent
sit	sat	sitting
take	taken	taken
throw	thrown	thrown off
understand	understood	understood
wake up	woken up	woken up
wear	worn	dress
write	written	written

Follow with:

• Regular English Sentences
• Irregular Sentences in English
• Sentences in past continuous
• «Conditional" in English
• Sentences with "I wish» – «if only»

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