Past Perfect

Past Perfect Tense

Also known as pluperfect

What is the past perfect tense used for?

• We use the past perfect tense to talk about actions that were completed before something else happened.

• Like this: I had eaten breakfast before I went to school.

• The sentence above tells us that the subject finished eating his breakfast before leaving for school.

What is the past perfect tense used for?

• Also to talk about how an action happened before a specific time in the past.

• Like this: She had established her company before 2008.

• The sentence above tells us that the subject has already made her company before 2008.

How do we use the past perfect tense?

• Subject + had + past participle + rest of the sentence

• The plane (subject) + had + leave (past participle) + by the time I got to the airport (rest of the sentence)

• The plane had left by the time I got to the airport.

• In past perfect we always use 'HAD' no matter what the subject is.

Time for a bit of practice

Any questions before we start?

Multiple Choice

Which one of these phrases is past perfect?

• has beaten

• have beaten

• had beaten

Multiple Choice

Which one of these phrases is past perfect?

• had write

• had written

• had wrote

Multiple Choice

Which one of these phrases is past perfect?

• had caught

• has caught

• have caught

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

She _____ him before the party.

• has meet

• has met

• have met

• had met

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

You _____ Italian before you moved to Rome.

• has study

• had studied

• had study

• have studied

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

She stayed up all night because she _____ bad news.

• has received

• had receive

• had received

• has received

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

I _____ asleep before eight o'clock.

• had fallen

• have fallen

• has fallen

• had fell

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

Kate _____ to see the movie, but she did not have money for the ticket

• has wanted

• have wanted

• had want

• had wanted

Open Ended

Write one sentence with the past perfect tense!

How was it?

Any questions?

More uses for the past perfect tense!

• For reported speech, which is when we tell someone about what another person told us.

• Like this: My neighbor asked if we had seen her dog.

• In the sentence above, the subject is telling someone how their neighbor asked them about her dog.

More uses for the past perfect tense!

• To talk about how we are dissatisfied with the past.

• Like this: The boy wished he had asked another question.

• The sentence above tells us that the subject wanted to ask a question but did not, and that the boy is unhappy about it.

More uses for the past perfect tense!

• To talk about how something happened right before another thing happened in the past.

• To do this, we use the word 'just'.

• Like this: The bus had just left when we got to the stop.

• The sentence above tells us how the bus left right before the people arrived at the bus stop.

More practice!

Any questions before we start?

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

I _____ the email before he apologized.

• have written

• had written

• had wrote

• has wrot

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

They won many of the games because they _____ a lot.

• have practiced

• had practiced

• has practiced

• had practiceth

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

They _____ engaged before last year.

• has gotten

• have gotten

• had got

• had gotten

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

The teacher asked if we _____ for the exam.

• had studied

• had studyed

• have studied

• have studyed

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect tense!

I wished I _____ the truth.

• have told

• had told

• has telled

• had telled

Open Ended

Write one sentence with the past perfect tense!

Was it too easy?

Any questions?

Past Perfect Negative

• You guessed it, negative means no.

• Subject + had + not/never + past participle + rest of the sentence.

• Mimi (subject) + had + not/never + chase (past participle) + my uncle since he gave her his sandwich.

• Mimi had not chased my uncle since he gave her his sandwich.

Even more practice!

Any questions?

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect negative!

I _____ with a ball before today.

• had played

• had not played

• have played

• have not played

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect negative!

He _____ football until last week.

• had never played

• had played

• had never playeth

• has never played

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect negative!

Nero _____ us dead mice before today.

• has never brought

• have never brought

• had never brought

• had never bringed

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect negative!

The boss _____ it would be a long meeting.

• had said

• has said

• had not say

• had not said

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect negative!

I wished I _____ the truth.

• have told

• had not told

• had told

• have not told

Open Ended

Write one sentence with the past perfect negative tense!

Too hard? Too easy?

Any questions?

Past Perfect Interrogative

• Yes, interrogative = questions

• Like this: Had + subject + past participle + rest of the sentence

• Had + he (subject) + visit (past participle) + his mother before Christmas (rest of the sentence)

• Had he visited his mother before Christmas?

More practice?

Yup.

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect interrogative!

_____ gone?

• where had he

• where has he

• where have he

• where is he

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect interrogative!

_____ anything this morning?

• had you eat

• have you eaten

• had you eaten

• you had eaten

Multiple Choice

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect interrogative!

_____ it _____?

• when had / rain

• when had / rained

• when has / rain

• when did / rain

Open Ended

Write one sentence with the past perfect interrogative!

Just a bit more and we're done

Any questions?

Past Perfect VS Past Simple

• Past perfect is used when we talk about how something happened in a specific time in the past (before something else happened).

• Like this: I had written novels before I lost interest.

• Meanwhile, we use past simple when we talk about something in the past without giving a specific time.

• Like this: I wrote novels.

But...

• Sometimes past perfect and past simple are interchangeable.

• Meaning we can use either one when we talk about the past.

• The birds had flown away when it started raining.

• The birds flew away when it started raining.

• However, we generally use past perfect when we talk about specific times in the past.

Multiple Choice

Which tense (past perfect or past simple) should be used to fill in the blanks?

I _____ such a beautiful sunset before I went to the island.

• had never seen

• never saw

Multiple Choice

Which tense (past perfect or past simple) should be used to fill in the blanks?

Jacob _____ with his dog.

• had played

• played

Multiple Choice

Which tense (past perfect or past simple) should be used to fill in the blanks?

The plane _____ before the passengers departed.

• had landed

• landed

Multiple Choice

Which tense (past perfect or past simple) should be used to fill in the blanks?

She _____ in California before moving to Texas.

• had lived

• lived

Multiple Select

Which tense (past perfect or past simple) should be used to fill in the blanks?

The students _____ school when the bell rang.

• had left

• left

Multiple Choice

Which tense (past perfect or past simple) should be used to fill in the blanks?

The cat _____ the bird before it flew out of the yard.

• had chased

• chased

Open Ended

Write one sentence with the simple past tense!

Open Ended

Write one sentence with the perfect past tense!

Yeah, it's weird.

• Basically...

• Past perfect = more specific

• Past simple = less specific

And that's all for today!

Any questions before we go?