the past perfect
noun[S]
uk/ˌpɑːst ˈpɜː.fekt/us/ˌpæst ˈpɝː.fekt/thegrammaticalformused for anactionthat had alreadyfinishedwhen anotheractionhappened. It is made with "had" and a pastparticiple:
过去完成时"I had justcooked" is anexampleof the pastperfect, and "I had just beencooking" is anexampleof the pastperfectcontinuous.I had just cooked 是过去完成时的一个例子，而 I had just been cooking 是过去完成进行时的一个例子。
- 'I had alreadyeaten' is anexampleof the pastperfect.
- 'She hadn'tseenhim' is anexampleof the pastperfect.
Linguistics: verb forms, tenses & types of verbs
- accusative
- art
- bare infinitive
- bent
- continuous
- infinitive
- non-progressive
- passive
- passivization
- pluperfect
- present
- present participle
- progressive
- subjunctive
- the active voice
- the first person
- the future perfect
- the past continuous
- the past tense
- the present continuous
Grammar
Past perfect continuous (I had been working)
We use had + been + the -ing form of the verb.…Past perfect continuous: form
We use had + been + the -ing form of the verb.…Past perfect continuous: uses
We use the past perfect continuous to talk about actions or events which started before a particular time in the past and were still in progress up to that time in the past:…Past perfect simple (I had worked)
We use had + the -ed form of the verb.…Past perfect simple: form
We use had + the -ed form of the verb.…Past perfect simple: uses
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):…Past perfect simple or past perfect continuous?
Past perfect simple = I had worked Past perfect continuous = I had been working…Past perfect simple or past simple?
Past perfect simple: I had seen Past simple: I saw…