The form and use of the Past Perfect and comparison with other tenses

 

We have already learnt the Present Perfect so we have come across this tense which has got the same pattern as the Present Perfect tense but the verb “have” is always in the unique past form “had” for all persons and numbers and the main verb is transformed into the past participle form too as all the Perfect tenses.

Examples in affirmative, negative and interrogative of all persons in singular/plural:

I had brought him the map. I hadn´t caught the leprechaun. Had I cut myself?

You had eaten lunch. You had not forgotten her. Had you begun the course?

He had broken his toy. He hadn´t shook his body. Had he given us a gift?

She had sold her flat. She hadn´t met him. Had she lent you the book?

It had blown last night. It hadn´t become yet. Had it cost you twelve dollars?

 

We had already gone to the village. We hadn´t built that manor. Had we paid them?

You had fallen in a grisly pit. You hadn´t run the race. Had you drunk the beer?

They had fought for us. They hadn´t forgotten their savior. Had they spilt the milk?

 

We use the Past Perfect to express an action that started in the past and finished in the past, it is said many times to point out an action that happened first as a contrast to an action that happened later expressed in the Past Simple. This is especially relevant when we use “just” between the auxiliary verb “had” and the main verb in the past participle.

Examples:

They had just left the house when it blew up.

We had approached too close to the deers in Phoenix park before we realised they were not students of English gathering in a circle.

She had just bought the cakes when the patisserie closed.

We had just discovered the truth when he confessed to us.

They had built the tent before the storm broke out.

We hadn´t shown our project yet when the competitors announced theirs.

He had not rang me before I left.

I had thought a lot about her before she appeared in my life.

The deers had sat down in a circle when we came near to them.