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Past Perfect Tense
 
 
 
PAST PERFECT TENSE

Past Perfect Tense in English Grammar

What is Past Perfect Tense?

"The past perfect tense represents the action that occurred before another past action or event."

In English language, Past perfect tense is used to expresses action that happened in the past before another action in the past. This is the past in the past.

Past perfect tense show that something happened before a specific time in the past. It helps to show which event happened first. This tense is formed with the past tense form of "have" (Had) plus the past participle of the verb (which can be either regular or irregular in form):

Basic Structure of Past Perfect tense:

• Structure for Past Perfect •

Subject Auxiliary verb Main verb
subject had past participle
I had gone to college.

• Structure for Negative sentence •

Subject Auxiliary verb Main verb
subject had + not past participle
I had not gone to college.

• Structure for interrogative sentence •

Auxiliary verb Subject Main verb
had subject past participle
Had you gone to college?

We normally use the past perfect tense to:

• expresses action that happened in the past before another action in the past.
• show which past event happened first.

USES OF PAST PERFECT TENSE
To describe an action completed before a certain moment in the past

The Past Perfect describe an action completed before a certain moment in the past:

Examples:
  • • I met him in New Delhi in 1970.
  • • He had fallen asleep before ten o'clock.
  • • I had seen him last before five years.
To show which action happened earlier than the other

If two action happened in the past, it may be necessary to show which action happened earlier than the other. The past perfect is mainly used in such situations. The simple past is used in one clause and the Past Perfect is used in one clause and the past perfect in the other:

Example:
  • • I had written the letter before he arrived.
  • • When the police arrived, the thief had escaped.
  • • When I reached the station the train had started.
  • • I had done my exercise when Hari came to see me.
Used with verbs like said, told, asked, thought, wondered:

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

Examples:
  • • He told us that the train had left.
  • • I wondered if I had been there before.
  • • I asked them why they had not finished.
  • • I thought I had met her before, but I was wrong.
  • • He explained that he had closed the window because of the rain.
PAST PERFECT TENSE TABLE
Past Perfect Tense Table
AFFIRMATIVE
  • I had gone.
  • You had gone.
  • We had gone.
  • He/She had gone.
  • They had gone.
NEGATIVE
  • I had not gone.
  • You had not gone.
  • We had not gone.
  • He/She had not gone.
  • They had not gone.
INTERROGATIVE
  • Had I gone?
  • Had you gone?
  • Had we gone?
  • Had he/she gone?
  • Had they gone?

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