Past Perfect Simple
When do we use the Past Perfect Simple?
1. a finished action before a second point in the past
If we talk about the actions in the order they happened then we would use the Past Simple.
- The film started, we arrived at the cinema.
Sometimes we want to change the order, maybe to stress the most important point by putting it at the beginning of the sentence. When we do that we usually use the past perfect to make it clear which action happened first.
- When we arrived, the film had started (= first the film started, then we arrived).
If it is clear which action happened first (because we use words like ‘before’ or ‘after’, for example), the past perfect is optional.
- The film started before we arrived. / The film had started before we arrived.
2. to explain the connection between two past events
Sometimes it is clear the order past actions happened in, for example:
- I ate, I wasn’t hungry.
but to show that there is a connection between the two we emphasis this with the Past Perfect Simple
- I had eaten so I wasn’t hungry
3. to show something started in the past and continued up to another action in the past.
The past perfect simple simple tells us ‘how long’, just like the present perfect, but this time the action continues up to a point in the past rather than to the present.
- When I left the job I had worked there for 10 years.
4. as part of the 3rd conditional
To talk about unreal or imaginary things in the past.
- If I had studied I would have passed the exam.
5. Signal words
- already
- before
- for
- just
- never
- not yet
- once
- until that day
- when
6. Form
had + past participle – this is infinitive + ed or 3rd column of irregular verb table
7. Examples
7.1. Affirmative sentences in the Past Perfect Simple – regular verbs
Long forms | Contracted forms |
---|---|
I had played football. | I‘d played football. |
You had played football. | You‘d played football. |
He had played football. | He’d played football. |
7.2. Affirmative sentences in the Past Perfect Simple – irregular verbs
Long forms | Contracted forms |
---|---|
I had been to school. | I‘d been to school. |
You had been to school. | You‘d been to school. |
He had been to school. | He‘d been to school. |
7.3. Negative sentences in the Past Perfect Simple – regular verbs
Long forms | Contracted forms |
---|---|
I had not played football. | I‘d not played football. |
I hadn’t played football. | |
You had not played football. | You‘d not played football. |
You hadn’t played football. | |
He had not played football | He‘d not played football. |
He hadn’t played football. |
7.4. Negative sentences in the Past Perfect Simple– irregular verbs
Long forms | Contracted forms |
---|---|
I had not been to school. | I‘d not been to school. |
I hadn’t been to school. | |
You had not been to school. | You‘d not been to school. |
You hadn’t been to school. | |
He had not been to school. | He‘d not been to school. |
He hadn’t been to school. |
7.5. Questions in the Past Perfect Simple – regular verbs
Long forms | Contracted forms |
---|---|
Had I played football? | There are no contracted forms. |
Had you played football? | |
Had he played football? |
7.6. Questions in the Past Perfect Simple – irregular verbs
Long forms | Contracted forms |
---|---|
Had I been to school? | There are no contracted forms. |
Had you been to school? | |
Had he been to school? |
Explanations
- Past Perfect Simple – Overview
- Diagram of the Past Perfect Simple
- Form of the Past Perfect Simple
- BE, DO & HAVE in the Past Perfect Simple
- Questions in the Past Perfect Simple
- Signal Words for the Past Perfect Simple
- Short Forms and Long Forms in the Past Perfect Simple
- Spelling of Verbs in the Past Perfect Simple