Past Perfect Tense

The Past Perfect tense is used to express something that happened before another action in the past.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	HAD	VERB (past participle)	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	had	finished	the work.
You	had	finished	the work.
He	had	finished	the work.
Mohan	had	finished	the work.
The boy	had	finished	the work.
She	had	finished	the work.
Pooja	had	finished	the work.
The girl	had	finished	the work.
We	had	finished	the work.
You	had	finished	the work.
They	had	finished	the work.
The children	had	finished	the work.

Notice that we use ‘had’ and the past participle form of the verb for all subjects.

NEGATIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	HAD NOT	VERB (past participle)	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	had not	talked	to my brother.
You	had not	talked	to my brother.
He	had not	talked	to my brother.
Mohan	had not	talked	to my brother.
The boy	had not	talked	to my brother.
She	had not	talked	to my brother.
Pooja	had not	talked	to my brother.
The girl	had not	talked	to my brother.
We	had not	talked	to my brother.
You	had not	talked	to my brother.
They	had not	talked	to my brother.
The children	had not	talked	to my brother.

Notice that we use ‘had not’ and the past participle form of the verb for all subjects.

INTERROGATIVE STATEMENTS / QUESTIONS

HAD	SUBJECT	VERB (past participle)	REST OF THE SENTENCE
Had	I	seen	the movie?
Had	you	seen	the movie?
Had	he	seen	the movie?
Had	Mohan	seen	the movie?
Had	the boy	seen	the movie?
Had	she	seen	the movie?
Had	Pooja	seen	the movie?
Had	the girl	seen	the movie?
Had	we	seen	the movie?
Had	you	seen	the movie?
Had	they	seen	the movie?
Had	the men	seen	the movie?

What is Past Perfect Tense?

PAST PERFECT SIMPLE

USE: We use PAST PERFECT SIMPLE to talk about a past situation or activity that took place before another past situation or activity, or before a particular time in the past.

Example:

- When I got home, my mother had cooked already.

- When Chenda arrived at the party, Nara had gone home.

- We aren’t hungry because we had just had lunch.

FORMULA

Positive Sentence:

Subject + had + past participle + object/complement

Example:

- The train had left at 7:00.

- John had gone to Camcodia.

- We had gotten a letter from USA.

Negative Sentence:

Sub + had + not + past participle + obj/comp

Example:

- Dara had not visited anywhere.

- They had not gone to China.

- She had not changed her house.

Question:

Had + sub + past participle + obj/comp ?

Example:

- Had you studied English before?

- Had they lived in Malaysia?

- Had she left home to Japan?

Related page

What is Tense? Definition of Tense.

What is the type of tense?

What Is the Past Tense?

What Is the Present Tense?

What is the Future Tense?

Structure of All Tense

Simple Present Tense

Present Continuous Tense

Present Perfect Tense

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Simple Past Tense

Past Continuous Tense

Past Perfect Tense

Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Simple Future Tense

Future Continuous Tense

Future Perfect Tense

Future Perfect Continuous Tense

All Tense with example

Table of English Tenses with example

TENSE CHART