Past perfect, form
The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.
| Subject | had | past participle |
|
We |
had |
decided... |
| Affirmative | ||
|
She |
had |
given. |
| Negative | ||
|
We |
hadn't |
asked. |
| Interrogative | ||
|
Had |
they |
arrived? |
| Interrogative negative | ||
|
Hadn't |
you |
finished? |
Example: to decide, Past perfect
|
Affirmative |
Negative |
Interrogative |
|
I had decided |
I hadn't decided |
Had I decided? |
|
You had decided |
You hadn't decided |
Had you decided? |
|
He, she, it had decided |
He hadn't decided |
Had she decided? |
|
We had decided |
We hadn't decided |
Had we decided? |
|
You had decided |
You hadn't decided |
Had you decided? |
|
They had decided |
They hadn't decided |
Had they decided? |
Past perfect, function
The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.
In these examples, Event A is the first or earliest event, Event B is the second or latest event:
| a. | John had gone out | when I arrived in the office. |
| Event A | Event B | |
| b. | I had saved my document | before the computer crashed. |
| Event A | Event BEvent B | |
| c. | When they arrived | we had already started cooking |
| Event B | Event A | |
| d. | He was very tired | because he hadn't slept well. |
| Event B | Event A |
Past perfect + just
'Just' is used with the past perfect to refer to an event that was only a short time earlier than before now, e.g.
- The train had just left when I arrived at the station.
- She had just left the room when the police arrived.
- I had just put the washing out when it started to rain.
