Past Perfect
Past Perfect – past perfect tense in English. It is usually used to indicate events that completed before any action in the past or when it is necessary to emphasize that one action preceded another in the past. The Past Perfect is formed using the verb to have in the third form (had) and a verb with the ending -ed added to it, and in the case of an irregular verb, the third form from the table of irregular verbs is used.
| Past Simple | ||
| Signal words | Use | Form |
| already
just never not yet once until that day before |
actions that took place before a certain time in the past
A finished action before a second point in the past Something that started in the past and continued up to another action or time in the past To talk about unreal or imaginary things in the past
|
had + past participle* *(infinitive + ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs) |
The general scheme of using the Past Perfect on the example of the verb – to work
| Positive | Negative | Question |
| I/ He/She/It/ You/We/They had worked | I/ He/She/It/You/We/They
had not worked |
Had I/ He/She/It/You/We/They
worked? |
The general pattern of using the Past Perfect with the example of the incorrect verb to go
Since this is an incorrect verb, turning to the table we get:
| INFINITIVE | PAST SIMPLE | PAST PARTICIPLE |
| to go | went | gone |
Then, according to the scheme, we will get:
| Positive | Negative | Question |
| I/ He/She/It/ You/We/They had gone | I/ He/She/It/You/We/They
had not gone |
Had I/ He/She/It/You/We/They
gone? |
Past Perfect is also called The past of the past or double past. This is because this tense indicates that something happened earlier than the Past Simple.
Examples:
- I had done
- Had she sung?
- I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet