Past perfect simple: form
We usehad+ the-edform of the verb.
+ | I, she, he, it, you, we, they | (full form) had | worked. |
I, she, he, it, you, we, they | (short form) ’d | ||
− | I, she, he, it, you, we, they | (full form) had not | worked. |
I, she, he, it, you, we, they | (short form) hadn’t | ||
? + | HadI, she, he, it, you, we, they | worked? | |
? − | (full form) HadI, she, he, it, you, we, they | not | worked? |
(short form) Hadn’tI, she, he, it, you, we, they | |||
See also:
Verbs: basic forms
Regular verbs
Irregular verbs
Past perfect simple: uses
Time up to then
The past perfect refers to time up to a point in the past (time up to then), just as the present perfect refers to something that happened in the time up to the moment of speaking (time up to now):
I’dseenall of Elvis Presley’s movies by the time I was 20!
| Past perfect: ‘time up to then’ (2001). |
| Present perfect: ‘time up to now’. |
See also:
Present perfect simple (I have worked)
Reported clauses
We commonly use the past perfect in reported clauses where the reporting verb (underlined) is in the past:
“Mr Hammonddrovethrough a red light.”
The policemansaidMr Hammondhad driventhrough a red light.
No onetoldme that the shophad closed.
I phoned Katie and shesaidthe kidshad hada day off school so she’dtakenthem ice skating.
We also use the past perfect when the reporting verb is a verb of perception and is in the past tense:
My Dad was really angry because heheardIhadn’t comehome until 3 am!
Isawshe’dboughtthe DVD so I asked if I could borrow it.
The doctorfeltmy motherhad gotworse since last week.
Talking about changed states
We often use the past perfect to refer to situations which have changed. In speaking,hadis often stressed:
A:Are you going anywhere today?
B:Ihad plannedto go to the beach but look at the rain!(hadis stressed; the meaning is ‘I have now changed my mind’)
I’m very happy working as an engineer but Ihad wantedto be an actor when I was younger.
The past perfect in conditional clauses
We must use the past perfect when we imagine a different past in a clause withif:
I would have helped to paint the house if you’daskedme.(You didn’t ask me.)
Sarah couldn’t come with us to the cinema. She would have loved it if shehad beenthere.(She wasn’t there.)
We don’t use the past perfect in the main clauseof a conditional sentence. It is only used in the conditional clause:
[conditional clause]If wehad seenyou walking,[main clause]wewouldhave stoppedto give you a lift.
Not:If we had seen you walking, we had stopped…
See also:
Conditionals