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.
• 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
Has/Have
subject
past participle
Had
you
gone to college?
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):
We use the past perfect tense to:
expresses action that happened in the past before another action in the past.
USES OF PAST PERFECT TENSE
The Past Perfect describe an action completed before a certain moment in the past:
Examples
I met him in New Delhi in 1970.
I had seen him last before five years.
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:
Examples
When I reached the station the train had started.
I had done my exercise when Hari came to see me.
I had written the letter before he arrived.
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.
