Learning English grammar is impossible without time past perfect. It's only at first glance given time seems extremely complicated and incomprehensible - it does not exist in Russian/Ukrainian. If you calmly understand these tables and learn how to analyze time intervals, then you will never get confused. Past Perfect is inextricably linked with time and, since it is used to denote an action that has occurred before some other action in the past.

For example:
"I didn't go to the cinema because I had already seen the film." Notice that both actions are in the past tense, but the one that happened earlier (first) - “already saw” is used in Past Perfect - “had already seen”, and the one that happened later (second) - “did not go” - in Past Simple - "didn't go."

The past perfect tense (The Past Perfect) is used:

1. for an action completed by a certain point in the past:
   1. The children cleaned the room by 7 pm.
      Children had cleaned the room by 7 p.m.
   2. My sister left before I called her.
      My sister had gone away by the time I called her.
2. for an event(s) that happened before another in the past:
   1. I couldn't find the magazine he lent me.
      I couldn't find the magazine that he had lent me.
   2. After my son told me his story, he felt better.
      After my son had told me his story, he felt better.
   3. Before I returned, my husband had already cooked dinner.
      Before I came back, my husband had already made dinner.
   4. Her boyfriend left the hall before she sang the song.
      When she sang a song her boyfriend had left the hall.
      (sequence: 1. Her boyfriend left the hall, 2. She sang a song)

      When the sequence of events is obvious, the Past Simple can also be used:
      When she sang a song her boyfriend left the hall.
      (sequence: 1. She sang a song, 2. Her boyfriend left the hall)
      After she sang the song, her boyfriend left the hall. When we finished/had finished the meal, she offered some coffee. After we ate, she offered us coffee.

3. in indirect (indirect) speech:
   1. Maria said that she had bought apples yesterday.
      Mary said she had bought the apples the day before yesterday.
   2. Alice asked if I had been to London.
      Alice asked if I had ever been to London.

Past perfect markers

Markers for The Past Perfect Tense are:

1. adverbs and expressions denoting certain periods of time: just, already, yet, for, since, ever, never, it was the first / second time, it was the most ... For example: “We met again. We hadn't seen each other for several months."

2. subordinate clauses with: when, before, after, until, as soon as, by that time, by the winter, by 5 p.m. For example: "Most of the engineers had arrived by 10 a.m."

To consolidate knowledge about Past Perfect, watch this video carefully:

THE PAST PERFECT TENSE

Past perfect tense

affirmative form
+

Interrogative form
?

Wh-?
Special questions

(begin with special words)

negative form
—

Interrogative-negative form
(colloquial speech)
?-

Exercise.
Translate into English the sentences in Past Perfect (past perfect tense):

1. The girl was happy because she talked to her mother.
2. I suddenly remembered that I hadn't eaten anything since morning.
3. Most of the children arrived before 9 am.
4. She told me that her friend invited her to the cinema.
5. Unfortunately, we had not read the novel until that time.

1. The girl was happy because she had talked to her mum.
2. I suddenly remembered that I had eaten nothing (hadn't eaten anything) since morning.
3. Most of the children had arrived by 9 a.m.
4. She told me that her friend had invited her to the cinema.
5. Unfortunately, we hadn't read the novel by that time.

Times in English language.

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". You can read more about Past perfect education on the page Education 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 the past perfect tense cannot be replaced by any other tense. It occurs in sentences with the word "if", but not always, but only in past tense. In English grammar, this situation is called subjunctive 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 "

The British are very scrupulous about the distinction between time intervals. If Russian grammar is limited to the past, present and future tenses, then the English language system has divided each of these traditional forms into four more subforms. As a result, 12 time groups were obtained, with a clearly defined scope of each type of structure. Today we will look at the category of the past perfect tense, study its meaning and give examples of use in sentences and dialogues for the past perfect. Despite the fact that in Russian there is no analogue of this tense, the topic does not cause any particular difficulties.

Briefly about the use of Past perfect

The main purpose of this category of time is to express the sequence of events in the past, previous experience. The predicate of the action that ended earlier is put in Perfect Past, and the verb of the second sentence usually has the form Past Simple. The completion of an event can also be expressed by a specific time indicator.

• She remembered that she had met these children beforeShe isrememberedwhatshe ismetthesechildrenbefore.
• I had written this report by 8 o'clock – Icompletedthisreportto 8hours.

In rare situations, the continuous tense may be used instead of the simple past. This is necessary if they want to emphasize the incompleteness of the second act, at the time of the end of the events preceding it.

• By that time I had read the book and was watching TV – Toto thattimeIfinished readingbookandalreadywatchedTV set.

In sentences with Past Perfect Tense, reverse rule. Past form Perfect Continuous cannot be used with verbs of feelings, possessions, states, relations, therefore, with such predicates, a simple past perfect is used.

• I had owned thecar for 8 years already when I decided tosellit I had owned this car for 8 years when I decided to sell it.

And the last situation in which it is necessary to use this tense is the presence in the statement of the phrases " scarcely…when», « nosooner…than», « hardly…when". Such a sentence is translated into Russian by the words " barely... how; didn't make it... how". Note the slight design change: had stands before the subject.

• Scarcely had she entered apartments, when the telephone rank – Barelyshe isenteredinapartment,asrangtelephone.

Having remembered the cases of using the past perfect, we will consider examples of sentences and learn how to independently create such constructions of time.

Past perfect examples

AT this section Let's analyze the rules and examples of the use of this tense category in various everyday situations.

So, if we need to make an expression in the Past Perfect in the form of a statement, then we should use the auxiliary verb had and the third form of the verb, which is participle II.

In this case, the event that follows in meaning can stand both in the first and in the second place.

• It was the best film I (1) had (2) ever watched (3)- It was the best movie I have ever seen.

Interrogative sentences require a slight change in construction, namely the introduction of an auxiliary had to the fore.

• Had (1) you (2) cleaned(3) the room by 11 o'clock? – Youremovedroomto 11hours?

According to this scheme, the so-called general issues. There are also statements with special interrogative words, negative questions, as well as expressions of doubt. We will not give separate schemes for them, a little later we will be told about the situations of such use of the past perfect by the examples given at the end of the material.

Negative sentences do not change the word order of the affirmative phrase, but are also associated with the verb had. To make a negation, the word not is added to this verb. Often there is a reduction in shape, and the overall design looks like hadn't.

• My daughter(1)hadn't(2+3)done(4)her homework yet when I cameMydaughtermorenotdidmyhomework when I arrived.

Regardless of the type of proposal, many past examples perfect often contain time indications ( words) introduced by words by, since, just, for, already, never, yetbeforeuntil.

Let's consolidate the ability to build this structure correctly by analyzing the most typical examples of its use.

Situation	Translation
No sooner had Mary gone at work than children ran to play in the yard.	Before Mary left for work, the children ran to play in the yard.
Hadn't Jack switched off the TV set when he left the house?	Didn't Jack turn off the TV when he left the house?
We were surprised when we learned this this movie won't a prize.	We were surprised when we learned that this film won the prize.
I hadn't watched the film by 3 o'clock because the guests arrived.	I hadn't finished watching the movie by three o'clock because the guests had arrived.
Yesterday you gave me the beautiful flowers of your garden. Who had grown the flowers? I think you had done it , didn't you ? Yes, I had .	Yesterday you gave me beautiful flowers from your garden. Who grew these flowers? I think you did it, didn't you?
Did you call your girlfriend? I called her, but she hadn't come home yet. Why didn't she come home yet? (colloquial form) = why had she not come home yet? (official form) She was very busy with work.	Did you call your girlfriend? I called her, but she hasn't come home yet. Why hasn't she come home yet? She was very busy at work.
Do you speak to your neighbors again? Yes, they apologized for the words that they had said then .	Are you talking to your neighbors again? Yes, they apologized for the words they said then.
Mother had known the truth before I told her it hadn't she ? yes, she had .	Mom knew the truth before I told her, didn't she? Yes, I knew.
yesterday, we hadn't done this exercise. Translate the text today.	We didn't do this exercise yesterday. Translate text today.
Had your sister cooked a pie or a cake when you returned? She had cooked a cake and ten muffins.	When you came back, did your sister make a pie or cake? She made a cake and 10 cupcakes.
Did they buy their car last week? No, they didn't. They had bought it the week before .	Did they buy their car last week? No, they bought it the week before last.

We looked at examples of various sentences in the past perfect, and learned how to compose them according to grammatical patterns. In order for the new information not to be forgotten after 30 minutes, but firmly settled in our head, it is necessary to complete several. Good luck in improving your English and see you soon!

Hello, hello, my dears.

There are only three tenses in Russian. And the past is just the past, without any additions. But in English, everything is much more complicated. Have you heard of the Past Perfect? Such a small and completely inconspicuous brother of the painful Present Perfect for many.

So, if this “miracle” caused you any difficulties - or maybe you never heard about it at all - then today I will tell you everything. Past perfect: rules and examples- the theme of the lesson. We are waiting for an explanation of the rule, many, many examples, but the exercises will be already. After all, practice takes a lot of time.

How is it formedPast Perfect

Building affirmative proposals in this tense is identical to the formation in the present perfect tense with minor changes. In short, the scheme looks like this:

Subject +had + V3 + Object.

She had done her homework by 9 p. m. She had done her homework by 9 pm.

They had already visited the place before. - They've been to this place before.

Let's take a short break here! Because I hope you remember that V3 is the third form of the verb. To regular verbs, we simply add the ending – ed, but we remember by heart and use the form from the third column!

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With negative sentences it's even simpler - we just add a particle not.

Subject +had not + V3 + Object.

I hadn't had breakfast before I set off to the university. -I not had breakfast before, how go in university.

I hadn ’ t slept until my parents came back home. I didn't sleep until my parents came home.

AT interrogative sentence the structure changes to the following:

Had +subject+V3+An object?

Had you washed your hands before you started eating the dinner? -You washed arms before topics, as to begin have supper?

Had you done the task before you went out to meet with you friends? -You made exercise before topics, as go meet co their friend?

When to UsePast Perfect

That's what, but with understanding when to use the Past Perfect, neither I nor my students have ever had problems. After all, everything is absolutely simple. Usually this rule is learned in the 8th grade, when students already have enough vocabulary, and the explanation of the rule does not become a test for children.

The first and most important rule:

• past perfect is used to describe a situation that has already ended BEFORE some other action took place in the past.

The action that had already finished before another action happened.

I was on my way to work when I remembered (action in the past) that I had forgotten (prior action) the presentation on the table. -Iwason thewaytowork, whenIremembered, whatforgotpresentationon thetable.

Theyhad already sold (prior action) thecarwhenI called(action in the past) . - When I called, they had already sold the car.

Sometimes, instead of a specific indication of the action, there may be an indication of the time.

She had finished studies by the 1st of July. -She is finished lessons to first July.

We had finished the event by end of the month.- We're done.eventby the endmonths.

• past perfect used when narratives need to describe a chain of actions related to the past.

The policeman said that the robbers had broken window, had stolen the picture and had run away. I was standing there and couldn't understand what I should do. -Policeman said, what robbers smashed window, stole picture and ran away. I stood there and couldn't figure out what to do.

Time indicators

At any time there are indicators. To immediately recognize the Past Perfect in a sentence, look for the following words with your eyes:

1. Before - before; before.
2. Since - since then.
3. By - k.
4. For - during.
5. By the time - by the time.
6. Just - just now.
7. After - after.
8. Till\Until - until then.
9. Never - never.
10. Already - already.

In 80% of cases, one of these words will be used in a sentence. For example:

I had already prepared my presentation by the time mother prepared the dinner. - I had already finished my presentation by the time my mother cooked dinner.

She realized that she had never been to this place before. -She is understood, what never before not was in this place.

But be sure to remember one thing - past perfect- this is the past tense, therefore we use it only when we talk about past events! As a rule, it is most often found in narratives and stories.

Dear ones, I am sure that you will have absolutely no questions left. Right now in open access you can find thousands of videos, rules and exercises if you need more. But I hope that I was able to close all the gaps in your knowledge regarding this topic. And it is not the easiest, trust me! But if you still have questions - you are welcome in the comments. I will answer each one there.

In addition, I also invite you to my mailing list, where I regularly share important and useful information from my experience. Let's learn English together!

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