Past perfect

Past perfect
Engl 3102 Prof. Mendez

Definition


past perfect tense - a perfective tense used to express action completed in the past; "`I had finished' is an example of the past perfect“



You probably know what perfect means (100% pure, no problems). However, in English grammar, the word perfect means past. Whenever you see the word perfect referring to English grammar, just saypast. Therefore, the past perfect means past past. This is exactly what the past perfect means: the past past. In other words, it is an action that happened (and finished) before another action in the past.

Past perfect tense is used to indicate that one action occurred before another action in the past. In other words, past perfect tense indicates the first of the two actions. For example: When I woke up this morning, my roommate had left already. After I had eaten my dinner, I went to see a movie.  Before I arrived at the theater, the movie had already begun.  Sometimes, when the meaning is clear from context, the simple past tense can be used.  After I had gone shopping, I stopped at the health spa. After I went shopping, I stopped at the health spa.

In some very unusualcases, the past perfect tense can refer to the second past action.


Before I had finished my homework, the telephone rang. (The telephone interrupted me before I finished my homework.)

How do we make the Past Perfect Tense?


The structure of the past perfect tense is:
subject + auxiliary verb HAVE + main verb

conjugated in simple past tense

past participle

had

V3

Thepast perfect is formed by combining the auxiliary verb "had" with the past participle.


I had studied. He had written a letter to María. We had been stranded for six days. Because the past perfect is a compound tense, two verbs are required: the main verb and the auxiliary verb .



had studied. (main verb: studied ; auxiliary verb: had)  He had written a letter to María. (main verb:written ; auxiliary verb: had)  We had been stranded for six days. (main verb: been ; auxiliary verb: had)



Look at the time line below
I ate a big breakfast. I went to school. Now

7:30am

8:00am

What happened first? What happened second? First: I ate breakfast. Second: I went to school. REMEMBER: Both of these activities happened in the past! However, one happened before theother. Here is a common way to write (or say) these two actions using the past perfect. The past perfect is written in red. *Before I went to school, I had eaten a big breakfast. -OR*After I had eaten breakfast, I went to school.

What do you notice about the past perfect?
First, you should have noticed that the past perfect is the action (had eaten a big breakfast) that happened BEFORE the otheraction in the past (went to school).  The second thing you probably noticed is that the past perfect is written with had and a past participle. The past participle and the simple past are usually the same if the simple past ends in -ed. If the simple past does NOT end in -ed, the past participle is probably different from the simple past.


How do we make the Past Perfect Tense?


Fornegative sentences in the past perfect tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the past perfect tense:
subject
+

auxiliary verb had

main verb
finished my work. before me. to school.

I

+

You
She We Had Had

had
had had you they not not

stopped
goneleft. arrived? eaten

? ?

dinner?

When speaking with the past perfect tense, we often contract the subject and auxiliary verb:
I had you had I'd you'd

he had she had it had
we had

he'd she'd it'd
we'd

they had

they'd

How do we use the Past Perfect Tense?
The past perfect tense expresses action in the past before another action in the past. This is the past in the...