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Past Perfect: rules, examples. The Past Perfect Tense - Past perfect tense: use, education, exercises

Past perfect (Paste perfect) - past perfect tense in English. At its core, it almost repeats Present perfect, but there are 3 differences:

1. Present perfect is used in simple sentences,
Past perfect - in complex-subordinate(i.e. consisting of 2 parts).

2. Present perfect is formed with "have",
Past perfect - using "had":

Present Perfect

past perfect

The secret to understanding the Past perfect lies in the verb "had". Becoming auxiliary, "had" loses its meaning "had" and acquires the meaning "already". Details about Education Past perfect can be read on the page formation of the past tense in English.

Rule 1 The task of the Past Perfect is to show the sequence of events. The event that happened first in time is used in the Past Perfect. The one that happened second is in Paste simple. If you use the Past simple in both parts of the sentence, it is not always clear which event happened first. Let's demonstrate this with examples.

Consider one proposal in three options:
The first time - without using the Past perfect,
the second and third - using the past perfect in different parts of the sentences.

Past perfect examples

	first part of the sentence	second part of the sentence
	She prepared dinner	when he came home.
	She cooked dinner	when he came home.
		come-came-come (3 forms of irregular verb)
	past simple	past simple
	The sequence of events is not clear. With the use of the past perfect, the sequence of events became clear:
	She had prepared dinner	when he came home.
	She's already cooked dinner	when he came home.
	past perfect	past simple

	She prepared dinner	when he had come home.
	She cooked dinner	when he came home.
		come-came-come
	past simple	past perfect

Rule 2 There is a situation where past time perfect cannot be replaced by any other tense. It occurs in sentences with the word "if", but not always, but only in past tense. In grammar in English this situation is called the subjunctive mood in the past tense (conditional 3). In practice, it is quite rare.

Time Past perfect tense in the system of all past tenses demonstrates the following video:

The following illustrated table will help you to see the place Past perfect among 4 types of past tenses "

Past Perfect Tense is translated as "past perfect tense".

We use this tense to say that an action in the past has ended. to or before some time in the past.

For example:

When I watched the series, I went to bed.

What was the first action? First I watched the series, and then went to bed. That is by that time, When I went to bed, I already watched the series.

To show that the first action ended before the second happened, the Past Perfect must be used in the first part of the sentence.

In other words, we use the Past Perfect to show the sequence of actions, that is, what one past action happened before another.

Look at the picture:

That is, by the time I watched the movie (second act), I had already read the book (first act).

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As you can see, it is not difficult to understand and remember this time. Now let's figure out how to form such sentences correctly.

Formation of the Past Perfect tense in English

The Past Perfect is formed using had(this is the form verb have in the past tense) and the verb in the past tense.

Verbs in the past tense

There are regular and irregular verbs in English. Depending on the verb, this form is formed as follows:

if the verb is correct, then we add the ending -ed to it: cook - cooked, finish - finished.
if the verb is irregular, then we put it in the 3rd form: do - done, eat - eaten

There is no rule by which one can determine the correct or irregular verb in front of us. The only way to find out is by looking it up in a dictionary or memorizing it.

The same is true for the forms of irregular verbs. They must be memorized or looked up in a dictionary.

Past Perfect Time Formation Scheme:

Actor + had + regular -ed verb or 3rd form of an irregular verb

I
You
We		done
They	had	worked
She		played
He
It

Important: Usually the past perfect is used in complex sentences consisting of two parts. Moreover, we use the Past Perfect in the part of the sentence that refers to the action that happened first (before the other).

In another part, the time is most often used Past simple - past simple.

The two parts of the sentence are connected by the words:

after- after
before- before
when- When
by the time- by that time

She had done her homework before he called.
She had done her homework before he called.

After they had eaten breakfast they went to work.
After breakfast, they went to work.

Abbreviations

We can abbreviate had in a sentence. It will look like this:

had = 'd

I 'd cooked dinner when they arrived.
I cooked dinner when they arrived.

Negative sentences in Past Perfect in English

To make the sentence negative, you need to add the negative particle not to the auxiliary verb had.

The outline of such a proposal would be:

Actor + had + not + regular -ed verb or 3rd form of an irregular verb

I
You
We			done
They	had	not	worked
She			played
He
It

He had not worked before he graduated from an university.
He didn't work until he graduated from university.

We had not read the book before we went to bed.
We didn't read this book before we went to bed.

Reduction

We can abbreviate had and not as follows:

had + not = hadn't

For example:

I hadn't called him before he wrote me.
I didn't call him before he texted.

Interrogative sentences with Past Perfect in English

To form interrogative sentence, need to auxiliary had to take first place. The outline of such a proposal would be:

Had + actor+ regular verb with -ed ending or 3rd form of irregular verb?

	I
	you
	we	done?
Had	they	worked?
	she	played?
	he
	it

Had they finished work before they left?
Did they finish work before leaving?

Had he drunk coffee before he went to work?
Did he drink coffee before he went to work?

So, we have analyzed the theory, and now let's move on to practice.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. I watched TV after reading a book.
2. She had breakfast before going to school.
3. They got married before they bought a house.
4. When the rain stopped, we went for a walk.
5. We went to the cinema after we had dinner.
6. He went home after finishing work.

Past perfect - Past Perfect

Designations: + statement, ? question, - negation.

+		?			-
... had + III.		Had ... +III?			... had not + III.
I	had painted.	Had	I	painted?	I	had not painted.
You			you		You
We			we		We
They			they		They
He			he		He
She			she		She
It			it		It

Abbreviations: I had = I "d, you had = you" d, we had = we "d, they had = they" d, he had = he "d, she had = she" d, it had = X, had not = hadn"t ().

-ed pronounced according to the following rules:
1. [d]- after vowels and voiced consonants:
[b], [?], [v], [ð], [z], [?], , [m], [n], [?], [l], [j], [w], [ r]; except [d] (item 3)
2. [t]- after voiceless consonants:
[p], [k], [f], [θ], [s], [?], [h], ; except [t] (item 3)
3. [?d]- after sounds [d] and [t]

Note: About sounds - in the material "Sounds of the English language. Phonetic notes".

Using the Past Perfect

1. Past Perfect is an action that ended up to a certain point in the past. The period can be defined:
A. Circumstance of time.
By Tuesday she had already prepared for the journey. By Wednesday, she had already prepared for the trip.
In such sentences, the expression by + time (to which the action took place) is used.
by midnight
by six o "clock
by Friday
by the 20 th of June
by the end of the month
by then/by that time
by that moment
and etc.
b. Another, later past action, expressed in past simple.
When I looked out of the window the rain had already started. When I looked out the window, it was already raining.
V. context or situation.
He showed me the ring he had bought for her. He showed me the ring he bought for not.
2. Past Perfect is often used instead of Past Perfect Continuous to express an action that began before a certain moment in the past and was still going on at that moment. It is used with verbs that are not used in the continuous form.
When Grace came to the destination Austin had already been there for an hour. When Grace arrived at the appointed place, Austin had already been there for an hour.
In such proposals, the period of time must be specified.

Note 1: Verbs that express desire, intention and hope are used in the Past Perfect to indicate that this intention, hope or desire did not come true.
He had expected you to support but you didn't. He expected you to help, but you didn't.

Note 2: Sometimes when Not emphasis should be placed on duration important fact his accomplishments, the Past Perfect is used.
When I got my first job I had lived outskirts of town. When I got my first job, I lived on the outskirts of the city.
But grammatically it would be more correct to use the long form:
When I got my first job I was living outskirts of town.

3. Past Perfect is a future perfect action in the past in subordinate clauses time.
She said that Michael would come back as soon as he had done all work. She said that Michael would return as soon as he finished all the work.
4. Past Perfect is used in constructions with the words hardly / scarcely (barely), as well as with the adverb no sooner (only; as soon as).
He had hardly entered the room when the phone rank. As soon as he entered the room, the telephone rang.
or the same but with a different word order:
Hardly had he entered the room when the phone rank.
He had no sooner come home then he saw his brother. As soon as he entered the room, the telephone rang.
with a different word order:
No sooner had he come home then he saw his brother.

past perfect is used when it is important for the speaker to emphasize the completion of the action up to a certain point in the past, therefore, in the bulk of sentences where this time is used, there are clear temporal indicators - you should pay attention to this if you are faced with the task of setting the desired type of tense form. But, let's talk about everything in order.

Using the Past Perfect

past perfect used to express:

Actions that started and ended before a moment in the past. A moment can be indicated by time, another action, or a situation.

Jessica had finished her essay by then. By that time, Jessica had finished the composition.

Natalie felt wretched. She hadn't slept well for two nights. Natalie felt overwhelmed. She hadn't slept well the last two nights.

After everybody had left, Susan began packing hurriedly. After everyone left, Susan began to pack her things in a hurry.

Sequential actions preceding a moment in the past.

Suddenly Luis realized that someone had opened the gate and had put a letter on the lawn. Suddenly Lewis realized that someone had opened the gate and placed the letter on the lawn.