Imagine: you want to tell a friend about how you spent the evening yesterday, about what you planned to do, but didn’t have time, or maybe you want to ask a couple of questions about his past, but you don’t know how to do it correctly.
The past perfect tense is one of the trickiest tenses in the English language. It occurs frequently in everyday speech, and it is almost impossible to avoid its use when speaking.
In this article you will learn how the past perfect is formed and when it is used, study the basic rules and analyze examples with translations of sentences found in English.
What is Past Perfect?
Past Perfect is the past perfect tense in English. It is used in cases where we talk about some action that has already ended at a certain point in time in the past (or before the start of another action in the past).
At the same time, the exact moment of the end of the action in the past may or may not be indicated (but is necessarily implied from the context).
He had washed the dirty plates - He washed the dirty plates (exact time not specified)
I had cooked dinner by 6 o’clock - I prepared dinner by 6 o’clock (exact time indicated)
Precise time is often indicated by the preposition by, but can also be expressed by another preceding action.
They had eaten pizza when I came to their place - They ate pizza when I came to them
The action (eating) ended at a certain point in time in the past (when I arrived).
IMPORTANT: do not confuse Past Perfect (past perfect) and Past Simple(simple past).
If something happened at a specific time in the past, we use the Past Simple, especially when we're talking about about several sequential actions performed one after another. When it is important for us to show precedence, to “get out” of the sequence and indicate that one of the actions occurred earlier than the other (others) - we need the Past Perfect.
Compare:
I learned Italian at school - I taught Italian at school (Past Simple, the person is no longer in school)
I had learned Italian before I visited the Milan - I learned Italian before I visited Milan (Past Perfect is used for an action that completed before another action in the past)
How is the past perfect formed?
The Past Perfect tense construction is formed using the auxiliary verb had and the third form of the semantic verb (V3).
The auxiliary verb had is used with subjects of all tenses and persons (I / She / He / It / We / You / They)
If the semantic verb is of the correct form, then its third form (V3) is formed using the ending -ed.
If the semantic verb is irregular, then we take its third form (V3) from the table irregular verbs.
For example:
to ask → asked (ask)
to open → opened (open)
to try → tried (try)
to feel → felt (feel)
to lose → lost (to lose)
to sleep → slept (sleep)
Statement
To make an affirmative sentence, you need to add to the subject auxiliary verb had and the third form of the semantic verb (V3)
I / She / He / It / We / You / They + had + V3
I had stopped the car - I stopped the car
He had booked a single room - He booked a single room
We had frozen to death - We froze to death
She had finished writing letters by two o’clock - She finished writing letters by two o’clock
I had done = I’d done (I finished)
You had felt = You’d felt (You felt)
Negation
In a negative sentence, the particle not is added to the auxiliary verb had, and then the third form of the verb follows (V3).
I / She / He / It / We / You / They + had not + V3
I had not finished breakfast - I did not finish breakfast
She had not washed her clothes - She did not wash her clothes
We had not seen the sunrise - We did not see the dawn
had not = hadn’t
I had not done = I hadn’t done (I didn’t do)
You had not felt = You hadn’t felt (You didn’t feel)
Question
An interrogative sentence in the Past Perfect is formed according to the following formula: the auxiliary verb had is placed at the beginning of the sentence before the subject.
Had + I / She / He / It / We / You / They + V3
Had you opened the window? - Did you open the window?
Had he passed his exam? - Did he pass his exam?
Had they come by 4 o'clock? - Did they come at four o'clock?
Had the supermarket opened by that time? - Was the supermarket already open by then?
Special questions are formed using question words. Such as when (when), what (what), where (where) and others. Next comes the same word order as in a regular Past Perfect question.
QW + had + I / She / He / It / We / You / They + V3
What had I done? - What did I do?
When had he booked the table? - When did he reserve the table?
When is the past perfect used?
Most often, the Past Perfect is used in three cases:
- Actions that happened before another action in the past
Joan had drunk a smoothie before going to work - Joan drank a smoothie before going to work
He told you that he had met your brother - He told you that he met your brother
- Actions whose results have been seen in the past
I was upset. I had forgotten my bag in the car - I was upset. I forgot my bag in the car
My family was surprised to know I had passed all the exams successfully - My family was surprised to learn that I passed all the exams successfully.
- Hardly...when and no sooner...than
The Past Perfect tense is used in the constructions hardly...when, no sooner...than and similar ones. In Russian we would say “as soon as I...”, “as soon as I...”, “I didn’t have time...”. In this case, we also talk about some action before another action in the past, but the peculiarity is precisely the construction of the sentence - the reverse word order.
Hardly had I sent the message when he came - As soon as I sent the message, he came
No sooner had she come into the room than the telephone rang - As soon as she entered the room, the phone rang
Past Perfect tense markers
Phrases that indicate a point in time in the past will help you recognize that the Past Perfect time is in front of you:
- before (before)
- never before (never before)
- after (after; after)
- no sooner...than / hardly...when (barely; as soon as)
- by that time (by that time)
- by three o’clock (by three o’clock)
- by 9 pm (by nine in the evening)
- by evening (by evening)
- by morning (by morning)
- by that day (by that day)
- by the 6th of October (by the sixth of October)
- by that age (by that age)
With the words before and after, you can use both Past Perfect and Past Simple tenses, because they themselves build the order of actions in the sentence.
We left after we had finished our work (Past Perfect) = We left after we finished our work (Past Simple) = We left after we finished our work
Both options are acceptable, are not an error and are translated into Russian without loss of meaning.
Example sentences with Past Perfect
Affirmative sentences:
I saw that everyone had already finished - I saw that everyone had already finished
Jim bought a new wallet, as he had lost his old one - Jim bought a new wallet because he lost his old one
Hardly had Kate left the bus, when the accident happened - Kate had barely left the bus when the accident happened
He had cooked dinner when they arrived - He prepared dinner when they arrived
Negative Suggestions:
We hadn’t eaten anything before we went to bed - We didn’t eat anything before going to bed
Harry said that he hadn’t passed the exams yet - Harry said that he had not yet passed the exams
I hadn’t opened the bottle of wine by that time - I didn’t open the bottle of wine by that time
She had not worked before she graduated an university - She did not work before graduating from university
Interrogative sentences:
Had the plane arrived by that time? - The plane had already arrived by then?
How many times had she been married by that age? - How many times had she been married by that age?
Where had you gone before the party finished? -Where did you go before the party ended?
When learning a language, there comes a time when it is necessary to move on to more complex topics related to tenses. However, just looking at all these Perfect and Perfect Continuous makes your head spin, and you get the impression that it will take months to study them. In fact, these are just far-fetched stereotypes that are easy to destroy. Actually, this is what we will do today, looking at one of the most interesting tenses in the English language - the Past Perfect tense (pronounced [past perfect]).
Past Perfect Tense or Past Perfect Tense is a tense used to express an action that completed at some specific moment in the past. It is not used independently, as it is associated with another event.
Simply put, Past Perfect Tense expresses an action that happened before another action, so in order to emphasize this, they are used in the same context. Due to its function, this time is called “pre-past”. The past perfect is used relatively rarely, mainly in British English. American English, which strives to simplify the language as much as possible, often replaces this tense with Past Simple.
However, if you study English language You need to know this time, because a) you can easily encounter it and you need to be prepared for it; b) there are certain situations where you cannot do without this time, otherwise you may be misunderstood. Therefore, let's look in detail at the rules, forms and methods of using this tense.
Past Perfect: rules of education
The tense grammar of the Past Perfect is based on two verbs: auxiliary and semantic.
The auxiliary verb is to have in the form of the past tense (had). A semantic verb is added to it, which is expressed by the past participle (Participle II). Everything is clear with the first verb, since it always remains unchanged for this tense. The second verb differs depending on whether it is regular or not.
For regular verbs, the third form or past participle is constructed similarly to the simple past tense. To form the form, you must add the ending -ed to the verb.
But the third form of the irregular verb will have to be learned, because the grammar of the language does not explain the ways of forming words of this group. You can study this and two other forms using the table of irregular verbs. Here are some examples:
| Infinitive
(Infinitive) |
Past Simple
(Past indefinite) |
PastParticiple
(Past participle) |
| be (to be) | was / were | been |
| begin (start) | began | begun |
| bring (bring) | brought | brought |
| come (to come) | came | come |
| drink (drink) | drank | drunk |
| have (to have) | had | had |
| put (put) | put | put |
| sing (sing) | sang | sung |
| swim (swim) | swam | swum |
| take (take) | took | taken |
To form a sentence in the Past Perfect with irregular verbs, only the third column is needed. Let's compare:
If you have studied irregular verbs in the past tense, the past participle will not be difficult for you, since many verbs are identical in both forms. However, this form may take time to memorize, so try to practice these words and make sentences with them to speed up the process.
Past Perfect: sentence forms
Having studied the rules of formation of the Past Perfect, you need to understand how to construct sentences in this tense.
- To construct an affirmative sentence in the Past Perfect, a standard formula is used, the only difference of which is the presence of the auxiliary verb had and the main verb in the third form:
If you want to express your thought not in the Past Perfect Active (active voice), but in the Past Perfect Passive (passive voice), after the verb had you need to put the verb been.
- For a negative sentence, all members remain in their places, but the negative particle not is added to the auxiliary verb had.
Abbreviations are used for both the affirmative and negative forms of the Past Perfect in English:
| Full form | Short form | |
| +
statement |
I had gone. She had told. They had put. |
I'd gone. She'd told. They'd put. |
| —
negation |
I had not found. He had not danced. We had not known. |
I hadn't found. He hadn't danced. We hadn't known. |
- The interrogative form of this tense depends on the type of question:
- A question that begins with an auxiliary verb (general and alternative) is formed according to the following pattern:
- Special questions start with question word, followed by the auxiliary verb had. Word order scheme:
- For a dividing question to affirmative proposal in the Past Perfect a “tail” is added with an auxiliary verb with the particle not and a pronoun, to the negative - only an auxiliary verb and a pronoun. Examples:
For general and disjunctive questions, short answers are used, which should only contain an auxiliary verb. Alternative and special questions require a complete answer, expressed in an affirmative or negative sentence.
Having studied the formation of the Past Perfect and the forms of the sentence, it remains to understand when and why this tense is used.
Past Perfect: use
Since the Past Perfect is used quite rarely, there are not many cases of its use.
- Past Perfect is used to show an action that happened before a certain point in the past. In such cases, in Past Perfect sentences you can find the preposition by - to (for some time).
- Time is also used to show that an action happened before another. This “other” completed action itself is used in the Past Simple. The following words can help construct a similar construction in the Past Perfect:
- before (before),
- first (first),
- after (after),
- as soon as (as soon as),
- earlier (earlier),
- when (when).
| I came to see her, but she had left.
(I came to see her, but she had already left.) |
First she left (Past Perfect), and then I came and didn’t find her (Past Simple). |
| Before he became a famous actor, Hugh Jackman had worked as a clown.
(Before he became a famous actor, Hugh Jackman worked as a clown.) |
First he worked as a clown (Past Perfect), then he became famous (Past Simple). |
| I ran into the man with whom I had once quarreled.
(I ran into someone I had a fight with once.) |
Once they quarreled (Past Perfect), and then after a while he met him (Past Simple). |
| After they had met each other at the festival, they became best friends.
(After they met at the festival, they became best friends.) |
First we met at a festival (Past Perfect), then we became best friends (Past Simple). |
| I had spent some time before I found the meaning of the Ukrainian words “list” and “apply” and the analogical words in Russian.
(I spent some time looking up the meaning of the Ukrainian words "list" and "apply" and their Russian equivalents.) |
First I spent time (Past Perfect), then I found it (Past Simple). |
In this construction, you can replace Past Perfect with Past Simple:
The exception is the word when, since using different tenses with this word changes the meaning of the sentence. Let's compare:
- The Past Perfect can be used to explain the reason why another action occurred. As in the case above, sentences in the Past Perfect are used with the Past Simple.
For this construction, an analogy can be drawn between Present and Past Perfect, the difference between which is that the first tense implies the present, and the second the past. Let's compare:
- Another similarity between these two tenses is the use of such adverbs as already (already), just (just), yet (not yet).
- In addition to the cases mentioned, the Past Perfect can be used to talk about one’s experience. Often in such sentences you can find the adverb ever (ever).
- The past perfect tense in English is used to list events that happened before another event.
- The Past Perfect can serve as the Past Perfect Continuous, showing that some action began and continued until a certain point in the past.
According to the rules, the Past Perfect can be used in these cases only when the sentence contains state verbs (state verbs) that cannot be used in Continuous tenses. However, the Past Perfect is now often used to show unfinished action with other verbs. Such sentences can be used with the words since (since) and for (during) used as prepositions.
- The Past Perfect tense is also used for the third type of conditional sentences (Third Conditional), which shows regret that something was or was not done in the past, but nothing can be changed. Study the table to understand how such sentences are constructed:
| If + Past Perfect, | would + have + verb 3. |
| Would + have + verb3 | if + past perfect. |
Note that if a sentence begins with “if,” you must use a comma before the second part to prevent the sentences from running together.
- You can also show regret or an intention that did not come true using verbs: think (think), hope (hope), expect (expect), want (want), intend (plan):
- You will recognize the past perfect tense in the following constructions:
- nosooner...than(as soon as) – the construction is used to show that after the first action the second happened immediately.
As you may have already understood, no sooner is used to introduce the first action in a sentence.
- hardly...when /before And scarcely...when /before(barely) – similar constructions that perform the same function as no sooner ... than.
Please note that such constructions use reverse word order. However, attempts to simplify the language also affected these phrases, so now you can find the following sentences with a direct order:
- The perfect form can also be used to express the future tense in the past in subordinate clauses.
Having carefully analyzed all the cases of use of the Past Perfect, you can make sure that the grammar of this tense and its practical examples are not difficult to understand. Even if initially you have problems with the formation and use of the past perfect tense, with proper practice and exercises, all difficulties will disappear on their own.
Exercises on the topic:
Intermediate lesson "Past Perfect declarative sentences"
Intermediate lesson "negative sentences Past Perfect"
Intermediate lesson "Interrogative sentences Past Perfect"
Errors when using Past Perfect tense
Method of formation Past Perfect
had + past participle
For example:
You had studied
You studied
Had you studied English before you moved to New York?
You studied English before you moved to New York?
You had not studied English before you moved to New York.
You didn't study English before moving to New York.
Verb conjugation in the Past Perfect
| Number | Face | Positive form | Negative form | Question form |
| unit | 1 | I had finished. | I had not finished. | Had I finished? |
| 2 | You had finished. | You had not finished. | Had you finished? | |
| 3 | He had finished. She had finished. It had finished. |
He had not finished. She had not finished. It had not finished. |
Had he finished? Had she finished? Had it finished? |
|
| plural | 1 | You had finished. | You had not finished. | Had you finished? |
| 2 | We had finished. | We had not finished. | Had we finished? | |
| 3 | They had finished. | They had not finished. | Had they finished? |
For forms of irregular verbs, see the third column (past participle column) in the list of irregular verbs.
Using the Past Perfect
An action that has already taken place before a certain point in the past
Past Perfect describes actions that have already completed before the beginning of another action that happened in the past. The Past Perfect also describes actions that have already taken place before a certain point in the past, which is either indicated by a time circumstance or context.
For example:
I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to Kauai.
I've never saw such a beautiful beach before I went to Kauai.
I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet.
I didn't have money because I lost wallet.
Tony knew Istanbul so well because he had visited the city several times.
Tony knew Istanbul so well because been there there several times.
Had Susan ever studied Thai before she moved to Thailand?
Susan someday studied Thai before you moved to Thailand?
She only understood the movie because she had read the book.
She understood the film only because I read it book.
Christine had never been to an opera before last night.
Christine, until last night, had never was at the opera.
We were not able to get a hotel room because we had not booked in advance.
We couldn't get a number because didn't book in advance.
"Had you ever visited the U.S. before your trip in 2006?" "Yes, I had been to the U.S. once before."
Have you ever was in the USA before going there in 2006? - Yes, I was there once before.
An action that began before a specified moment in the past and continued until that moment (non-continuous verbs)
The past perfect is used with non-continuous verbs and with mixed verbs that cannot be used in the continuous tense, to denote an action that began in the past and continued until the beginning of another action in the past, or until some specified point in the past.
For example:
We had had that car for ten years before it broke down.
Car was We've had it for ten years now when it broke.
By the time Alex finished his studies, he had been in London for over eight years.
By the time Alex graduated, he stayed in London for over eight years.
They felt bad about selling the house because they had owned it for more than forty years.
They really didn't want to sell the house because they owned they are over forty years old.
Although the use of the Past Perfect in this meaning is limited to non-continuous verbs and mixed verbs that cannot be used in the continuous tense, verbs live, work, teach And study can also sometimes be used in this way, although they are not verbs of the non-continuous group.
Important: the exact point in time in the Past Perfect
Unlike the Present Perfect, in the Past Perfect you can use the exact specified moment in time of the action, although such use is not obligatory.
For example:
She had visited her Japanese relatives once in 1993 before
She once visited in 1993, before she moved to live with them in 1996.
Important
If the action expressed in the Past Perfect actually happened at the exact moment in time, the Simple Past can be used instead of the Past Perfect when the sentence contains words such as before– before, before; after- after. Adverbs of time before And after already show which action happened first, so using the Past Perfect in this case is not necessary. For this reason, both of the following sentences are acceptable.
For example:
She had visited her Japanese relatives once in 1993 before she moved in with them in 1996.
She visited her Japanese relatives one in 1993 before she moved in with them in 1996.
She once visited their Japanese relatives in 1993, before I moved to live with them in 1996.
However
If the action expressed in the Past Perfect does not refer to any specific point in time, the use of the Past Perfect is mandatory. Compare the examples below. In the case of using the Past Perfect, the lack of experience experienced is emphasized rather than the action itself. For this reason in in this case Simple Past cannot be used.
For example:
She never saw Wrong.)
She had never seen a bear before she moved to Alaska. ( Right.)
She never saw bear before moving to Alaska.
In all the variety of tenses in the English language, Perfect tenses (perfect or complete) are notable for the fact that you will not find their analogues in Russian grammar. Perhaps for this reason, many people have difficulty mastering perfect tenses. Let's learn to understand and use these useful and interesting English verb tenses.
Strictly speaking, in English there are only two tenses (tense), where only the semantic verb is present: present (We walk) And past (He left).
All other tenses of verbs in English, and there are about thirty of them, use auxiliary verbs.
There are six main tenses, which, once understood, will help you understand the entire temporal structure of English verbs.
- Present Simple (Present Indefinite): We play. - We're playing.
- Present Perfect: We have played. - We played.
- Past Simple (Past Indefinite): We played. - We played.
- Past Perfect: We had played. - We played (before a certain event in the past).
- Future Simple (Future Indefinite): We will play. - We will play.
- Future Perfect: We will have played. - We'll play (until a certain event in the future).
Students of English as a foreign language most often experience problems with perfect tenses. This is due to the fact that they are formed a little more complex than their “simple” counterparts: with the help of an auxiliary verb and the past participle (III form of the verb).
- Run (run)- run - run
- Play (play)- played - played
Auxiliary verbs are usually forms of the verbs be, can, do, may, must, ought, shall, will, have, has, had. It is these verbs and their forms that should be given attention.
Present Perfect Tense (present perfect tense)
Tom will repair his car on Monday. (Future Simple) - Tom will be repairing his car on Monday.
She hopes that Tom will have repaired his car by Monday evening. (Future Perfect) - She hopes Tom will have his car repaired by Monday evening.
Listen to a story about the formation and nuances of using Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous (in English with English subtitles):
Past Perfect is one of the forms of the past tense, denoting an event that happened at a certain moment before another action began.
The very existence of this grammatical phenomenon is a vivid example of how ordered the English language is, how important the sequence of completed events is within the framework of its type-time paradigm. As shown in the diagram below, the action expressed in this tense occurs before some other action in the past.
Also, instead of action 2, there may be some point in time in the past, before which some event occurred, as shown in the following example:
Methods of forming Past Perfect
Affirmative sentences
In order to get a statement in the Past Perfect, you need the verb had and the 3rd form of the main verb (V3). TO correct verb the ending - ed is added, and if the verb is irregular, its form is taken from the 3rd column (Participle II).
Below is a table with an example where you can observe the construction of this past tense form.
| Structure | Subject (Who? What?) | HAD | V3 (V+ed/Participle II) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheme | ☺ | had | V3 | |
| Example | Mom | had | painted | the wall by 5 o'clock. |
| Translation | Mother | painted | wall by 5 o'clock. |
It is worth noting that abbreviations are common. In statements, had is combined with using an apostrophe (‘)
She had = She'd
I had = I'd
We had = We'd
Below are examples of the use of verbs in the Past Perfect, both in full and in shortened form.
| Full form | Short form | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| I had read. | I'd read. | I read it. |
| He had smoked. | He'd smoked. | He smoked. |
| She had written. | She'd written. | She wrote. |
| It had flown. | It'd flown. | It flew away. |
| We had broken. | We'd broken | We broke it. |
| You had rung. | You'd drunk. | You called. |
| They had invented. | They'd come. | They invented it. |
Negative type of sentences
Negative sentences are formed by adding not between had and the semantic verb. In this case, the words are arranged in the same order as in the affirmative.
| Structure | Subject (Who? What?) | HAD | V3 (V+ed/Participle II) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheme | ☺ | had not | V3 | |
| Example | Mom | had not | painted | the wall by 5 o'clock. |
| Translation | Mother | Not | painted | wall by 5 o'clock. |
Abbreviated forms in speech are used much more often than full ones. To shorten, you need to combine the auxiliary verb had with the particle not using an apostrophe (’), as shown below:
I had = I hadn’t
You had = You hadn’t
She had = She hadn’t
Below are examples of the use of verbs in the Past Perfect, both in full and in shortened forms of negative types of sentences.
| Full form | Short form | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| I had not put. | I hadn't put it. | I didn't put it. |
He had not blown. | Didn't blown. | He didn't cheat. |
She had not learned. | She hadn't learned. | She didn't learn. |
It didn't flow. | It didn't flow. | It didn't fly away. |
We had not broken. | We hadn't broken. | We didn't break it. |
You weren't drunk. | You weren't drunk. | You haven't had a drink. |
They had not invented. | They hadn't invented. | They didn't invent it. |
Interrogative sentences
In interrogative sentences, the word order will be reversed. As can be observed in the table below, the auxiliary verb had should come first, then the subject, and then the semantic verb V3:
| Structure | HAD | Subject (Who? What?) | V3 (V+ed/Participle II) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheme | Had | ☺ | V3 | ? |
| Example | Had | Mom | painted | the wall by 5 o’clock? |
| Translation | Did you paint it? | Mother | wall by 5 o'clock. |
The following table shows examples of using the Past Perfect in interrogative sentences. You can also observe that the word order is reversed everywhere:
Using the Past Perfect
1. Most often Past Perfect means an event in the past that happened before some other action. This subsequent action often occurs in the Simple Past.
We drove up to the opera house, but the performance had finished. – We arrived at the opera house, but the performance had already ended. (first the performance ended, then we arrived at the opera house).
2.Past Perfect denotes an event, which happened in the past at the designated time. In this case, the very moment at which the action was completed will be indicated. In the example below, this point is indicated by by:
Matt had finished repairing the car by 9 o’clock. – Mat finished repairing the car by 9 o’clock. (repair was completed by the time the clock was 9)
3.Sometimes the Past Perfect indicates that an event expressed in this time is the cause of another, subsequent action or state.
She was happy. She had received lots of gifts. - She was happy. She received many gifts.
She didn’t invite him for dinner as she had burnt the chicken in the oven. “She didn’t invite him to dinner because she burned the chicken in the oven.”
4.Using Past Perfect denotes a continuous action that began earlier and continued for some time. In this case, the prepositions since and for are most often used, which are translated as “since” and “during”, respectively.
He died last Monday. We had remembered him since he was a toddler. “He died last Monday.” We remembered him since he was a one-year-old baby.
She was a talented violinist. We had loved her playing for 10 years. – She was a talented violinist. We enjoyed her playing for 10 years.
It should be noted that the Past Perfect in this case is used only with that express emotions and perception. For example, love, know, adore, think, feel, regret, etc. With dynamic verbs, the Past Perfect Continuous is necessary to express duration.
Ben retired on July, 2. This dude had been coaching us for 10 years. – Ben retired on the second of July. This guy worked as our coach for 10 years.
5.B conditional sentences third type Past Perfect used to express regret about something that did not happen. Something in the past could have been done if the condition had been met, but at the present moment it is no longer possible to influence the situation.
If I had met Harry, I would have given a hug to him. “If I met Harry, I would hug him.”
If she had ironed her dress, her parents would have given her some more funds. If she had ironed her dress, her parents would have given her more money.
6. In sentences that use words such as hardly... when and no sooner... than, Past Perfect denotes a sequence of events. The use of this tense emphasizes that one action happened immediately after another. Such constructions are translated using the expressions “didn’t have time...”, “as soon as...”, “barely...”. In sentences of this type the opposite is true.
Hardly had Jens gone out, when somebody threw a stone to his head. Jens had barely left when someone threw a stone at his head.
No sooner had Tony sunk into the sea water than the funny dolphin was seen nearby. - Before Tony had time to plunge into sea water when a funny dolphin appeared nearby.
Use of time adverbs
Past Perfect is used with the following time markers:
- by(at some time/moment)
Kate had smoked 10 cigarettes by the moment they came (Kate smoked 10 cigarettes by the time they came); - after(after)
After he had lost 10 pounds, he changed the size of his clothes (After he lost 10 pounds, he changed the size of his clothes); - before(before/before)
Before I came home, I had delayed at college to help the tutor (Before I came home, I stayed in college to help the teacher); - when(When)
Molly had crossed the brook when the dog looked at her (Molly crossed the brook when the dog looked at her); - earlier(earlier)
I didn’t know where my boyfriend was as he had snaffled my money earlier (I had no idea where my boyfriend was, since he stole my money earlier); - just(just now)
It was 7 p.m. and she had just taken the shower (It was 7 o'clock in the evening and she had just taken a shower); - already(already)
They were going for that city as she had already got a new job (They moved to that city because she had already found a new job); - yet(still, already)
They arranged the party but they hadn’t brought the drinks yet (They organized the party, but haven’t brought the drinks yet).
Also used with markers such as yet, already and just. It is necessary to understand that when using the Past Perfect, the speaker refers to the past, and the Present Perfect denotes an event that happened in the past, but its consequences affect the present.
I have written 7 poems already. – I have already written 7 poems. (I already have 7 written poems)
By the moment I lost my vision, I had written 7 poems already. – By the time I lost my sight, I had already written 7 poems. (I had already written 7 poems, and then I lost my sight).
Cases of replacing Past Perfect with Past Simple
At the moment, there is a tendency to replace Past Perfect with Past Simple if the order of actions is obvious from the context. Most often this happens in . Sentences like these use different time markers.
- after (after)
After she had washed the walls in the bathroom, she peeled the vegetables for a salad. = After she washed the walls in the bathroom, she peeled the vegetables for a salad.
After she washed the bathroom walls, she peeled the vegetables for the salad.
- before (before/before)
I had visited my cousin once before I left for Hungary. = I visited my cousin once before I left for Hungary.
I visited cousin once before I left for Hungary.
- earlier (earlier),
I helped my neighbors though I was incensed by them as they had crashed my motorbike earlier. = I helped my neighbors though I was incensed by them as they crashed my motorbike earlier.
I helped mine neighbors,
Although was Very angry on them,
That's why What They smashed my moped.
But: If the conjunction when is used in a sentence, changing the tense is not possible, as the meaning will change.
When we hauled our bags to the hotel, Mary had checked in. – When we brought the bags to the hotel, Mary had already checked in.
(Past Perfect means Mary checked in before we even brought our bags to the hotel)
When we hauled our bags to the hotel, Mary checked in. – When we brought our bags to the hotel, Mary checked in.
(Past Simple shows that we brought our bags to the hotel first, and then Mary checked in)
At first glance, this time seems difficult. It is important to remember the basic principle - the Past Perfect is where two actions occurred sequentially. The one that happened earlier is expressed in the Past Perfect, and the one that happened after it is expressed in the Past Simple.
In addition, this tense indicates that some past event has ended at some point. In order to make it easier to understand in what cases this tense is used, it is necessary to remember the markers that are used with the Past Perfect, study the structure of sentences, and also visualize the sequence of actions.
And in order to finally consolidate the material and put everything “on the shelves,” we recommend watching the video:
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