Past Perfect Tenses in English: A Comprehensive Guide

Posted on May 2, 2024 in English

Past Perfect Tenses in English

Irregular Verb Forms

Past Perfect Simple

Form

• Positive: Subject pronoun + had (‘d) + past participle
• Negative: Subject pronoun + had not (hadn’t) + past participle
• Interrogative: Had / Hadn’t + subject pronoun + past participle?

Use

• The earlier of two past actions: When the police arrived, I had left.
• Time up to a certain point in the past: She had published her first poem by the time she was eight.
• Past perfect with before: The students left before I had spoken to them.
• Often used with adverbs such as: already, just, still, ever, and never.

Examples

1. Kevin had gone home by the time I arrived.
2. Ethan suddenly realized that he had left his laptop on the train.
3. Mum was annoyed because I hadn’t cleaned my room.
4. Had they studied English before they went to the USA?
5. We were hungry because we hadn’t eaten.
6. My phone didn’t work because I hadn’t charged it.
7. Sally was embarrassed because she had forgotten her dad’s birthday.

Past Perfect Continuous

Form

• Affirmative: Subject pronoun + had (‘d) + been + -ing
• Negative: Subject pronoun + had not (hadn’t) + been + -ing
• Interrogative: Had / Hadn’t + subject pronoun + been + -ing?

Use

• An action that started in the past and continued to happen in the past:
  • The children wore muddy clothes because they had been playing football in the rain.
  • Ben was exhausted because he had been working since 5am.

Examples

1. It was a relief to find the documents. I had been looking for them all afternoon.
2. We had already been working on this project for a month before we found a fundamental flaw.
3. John was very tired because he had been running.
4. I could smell cigarettes. Somebody had been smoking.
5. Had the pilot been drinking before the crash?
6. Ram was angry. He had been waiting for two hours.

Past Perfect Simple vs Past Perfect Continuous

• Past Perfect Simple: Emphasizes the completion of an activity. The builders had put up the scaffolding around the house. (The scaffolding is up.)
• Past Perfect Continuous: Focuses on the activity and duration of the activity. The builders had been putting up the scaffolding when the roof fell in. (A continuing or ongoing action.)
• Do not use the past perfect continuous when talking about states rather than actions (with verbs like have, be, know, like, etc.). We’d known for a long time that the company was going to close. (Not: We’d been knowing…)

Other Past Tenses

Used to (+ infinitive)

• Past habits or situations (regular actions that we did in the past that we no longer do).
• Usually to compare the past and the present: My sister used to live in Boston, but now she lives in New York.

Would (+ infinitive)

• Past actions and habits (used as a narrative tense):
  • He would buy every Marvel Comic the same day that it came out on the market.
  • She would water the plants every Friday when she lived in her old apartment.

Additional Vocabulary

Film and Book Terms

• Autobiography: Autobiografía
• Minor role: Paper secundari
• Award-winning: Premiat/da
• Plot: Trama
• Base on: Basar-se en

Adjectives

• Amazed: Fascinat
• Exhausted: Agotade
• Amazing: Fascinante
• Exhausting: Agotador

Emotions

• Ashamed: Avergonzade
• Jealous: Celose
• Astonished: Muy sorprendide
• Proud: Orgullose

UK/US English

• UK: Aubergine (Berenjena) – US: Eggplant
• UK: Biscuit (Galleta) – US: Cookie