Past Perfect Tense: Definition, Formula, Structure and Uses with Examples

The past perfect tense is an essential part of English grammar dealing with the completion of one action before another action took place in the past. It helps to make the narration and descriptions more distinct, indicating the temporal order of actions and circumstances.

In this article, we will be learning about the past perfect tense: what it is, its formula and structure and its proper usage. Further, you will get examples and problems that will be explained and solved to help you understand this tense and its usage. Learning about the past perfect tense sentences will help improve your output and efficiency in talking about events in the past.

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What is Past Perfect Tense?

Past perfect tense can be easily differentiated from simple past and past continuous tenses in terms of usage because it focuses on the order of actions in the past tense. It indicates that one event has occurred before another one has taken place. A continuity of past actions is signified in this tense, indicating which event was first in a sequence when narrating or describing the past.

Definition of Past Perfect Tense

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the past perfect tense definition is a verb form that helps to express that an action had been completed before another occurred. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines past perfect tense in English as expressing an action done before a particular point of time in the past, with the help of “had” and past participle. According to Merriam-Webster, it focuses on actions taken at a certain time in the past. According to the Collins Dictionary, it points to a time that an action or state ceased before a further back point in the past, known as the pluperfect.

Structure and Formula of Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense structure is explained in the table below, making it easy to remember and differentiate.

Form Structure Example
Affirmative Subject + had + past participle + rest of sentence "She had left the house before it started to rain."
Negative Subject + had + not + past participle + rest of sentence "I had not finished my homework before my friends arrived."
Question Had + subject + past participle + rest of sentence? "Had you finished your homework before your friends arrived?"
Adverbs Subject + had + adverb + past participle + rest of sentence "She had already left the house before it started to rain."
Passive Voice Subject + had been + past participle + rest of sentence "The project had been completed before the deadline."

Rules of Past Perfect Tense

There are some past perfect tense rules that you need to remember to master this tense.

  1. The main verb in the past perfect tense is always in the past participle form. You should remember that you cannot use any other form of verb in the past perfect tense
  2. The past perfect tense always uses "had" as the helping verb, regardless of the subject. No matter whether the subject is singular or plural, you or I, had is the only past perfect tense formula to be used without confusion.
  3. The past perfect tense is used to show that one action occurred before another in the past. If there is no sequence of action, which means only a single action is there, then past perfect tense becomes inappropriate.
  4. In negative form, “not” must be placed after "had” in every sentence. It can also be written as hadn’t.

Uses of Past Perfect Tense

The uses of past perfect tense are given below for different types of statements.

Past perfect tense for statements

The use of the past perfect tense in affirmative sentences indicates that one action was completed before another action in the past. This helps establish a clear sequence of events.

Examples:

  • By the time we arrived, the show had already started.
  • She had cooked dinner before we reached home.

How to use past perfect tense for negatives?

The past perfect tense negative sentence is when the statement tells if something has a “no” in it. For a negative past perfect tense, you should use had and not and the 3rd form of the verb, also called a past participle.

Examples:

  • He had not finished his work before the meeting started.
  • They had not visited the museum before it closed.

How to use Past perfect tense for questions?

Interrogative sentences, also called question sentences, are the ones in which something is asked. In these types of sentences, ‘had’ is used at the beginning, and a question mark is used at the end.

Examples:

  • Had you completed the report before the deadline?
  • Had they left before the rain started?

How to use the past perfect tense with adverbs?

You can place adverbs between "had" and the past participle to add more information about the action or verb.

Examples:

  • She had already left when we arrived.
  • He had never seen such a beautiful sunset before.

How to use the past perfect tense in passive voice?

In the passive voice, use "had been" followed by the past form of the main verb to show the action that happened to the subject.

Examples:

  • The project had been completed before the deadline.
  • The book had been returned by the time I arrived.

Examples of Past Perfect Tense

Here are some past perfect tense examples that will help you understand it easily.

Sno. Sentence Explanation
1 I had finished my work before he called. My work was done before he called.
2 She had left by the time we arrived. She was already gone when we got there.
3 They had eaten dinner before the movie started. Dinner was done before the movie began.
4 We had met once before our second meeting. Our first meeting was before the second one.
5 He had forgotten his keys before he reached the car. He realised he had forgotten his keys after reaching the car.
6 I had known her for years before we started dating. Our friendship started years before we began dating.
7 The train had left before we got to the station. The train departed before we arrived.
8 She had studied French before moving to Paris. She learned French before relocating to Paris.
9 They had never travelled abroad before last year. Their first international trip was last year.
10 By the time the show started, we had found our seats. We were seated before the show began.

Exercises for Past Perfect Tense

You can practice based on your level from the past perfect tense exercises given below.

Past Perfect Tense Exercises for Beginner

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb in parentheses.

  1. By the time the teacher arrived, the students _______ (leave).
  2. She _______ (finish) her homework before going out to play.
  3. We _______ (see) that movie before, so we decided to watch something else.
  4. They _______ (visit) the museum before it closed.
  5. He _______ (not/complete) the assignment before the deadline.

Answers:

  1. had left
  2. had finished
  3. had seen
  4. had visited
  5. had not completed

Past Perfect Tense Exercises for Intermediate

Complete the sentences using the correct form of the past perfect tense.

  1. When we arrived at the station, the train _______ (already/leave).
  2. She _______ (never/meet) him before the party.
  3. By the time he got home, his wife _______ (already/start) cooking.
  4. They _______ (live) in Paris for five years before moving to London.
  5. I _______ (not/read) the book before I saw the movie.

Answers:

  1. had already left
  2. had never met
  3. had already started
  4. had lived
  5. had not read

Past Perfect Tense Exercises for Advanced

Transform the sentences into the past perfect tense.

  1. They forgot their tickets. (by the time they arrived at the concert)
  2. She learned Spanish. (before she moved to Mexico)
  3. He completed the marathon. (by the time I saw him)
  4. The dog ran away. (before they could catch it)
  5. We bought the house. (after we saved enough money)

Answers:

  1. They had forgotten their tickets by the time they arrived at the concert.
  2. She had learned Spanish before she moved to Mexico.
  3. He had completed the marathon by the time I saw him.
  4. The dog had run away before they could catch it.
  5. We had bought the house after we saved enough money.

FAQs

Ans: The use of the past perfect tense effectively states the order of events and their connections, thus assisting readers in understanding the sequence of past activities. For instance, “She had packed her bags before he even decided to visit.

Ans: The past simple tense shows the completion of an action as well as showing that the action was completed at a particular time in the past, and the past perfect tense shows that an action was completed before another action in the past. For example, there is a past simple used in “She ate breakfast” instead of “She had eaten breakfast before leaving for work”, which is past perfect.

Ans: We should use the past perfect tense in conversations when it is necessary to sort out the actions logically. For example, if you’re explaining why you were late: “I had concluded my meeting, but I was held up in traffic.”

Ans: Yes, the past perfect tense may be used with the timetable indications to indicate when the given action was performed. For instance, “By the time he arrived, I had already left”

Ans: The past participle used in forming the perfect tenses or passive voice differs for learning irregular verbs. For instance, the past participle of “go” is “gone,” so incorporated into the past perfect tense, they would be “had gone.”

Ans: The past perfect tense is more frequently used in writing English than spoken, although it can be used in speech when describing a sequence of past events. For example, “I had just sat down to eat when the phone rang.

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