Past Perfect

Past Perfect Tense

​What is a past perfect?

​A tense that expresses an activity that was completed before another activity in the past.

​Past Participle (v3)

​Regular form (+ed, +d):

• marry (v1), married (v2), married (v3)

• ​annoy (v1), annoyed (v2), annoyed (v3)

• ​state (v1), stated (v2), stated (v3)

​

​Irregular form:

• ​go (v1), went (v2). gone (v3)

• ​bring (v1), brought (v2), brought (v3)

• ​rise (v1), rose (v2), risen (v3)

​Which one happens first?

1. ​Sam had already left by the time Ann got there.

   1. First: Sam had already left

   2. Second: Ann got there​

2. ​The thief simply walked in. Someone had forgotten to lock the door.

   1. First: ?

   2. Second: ?​

3. ​Sam had already left when Ann got there.

4. Sam left when Ann got there.

​Past Perfect and Simple Past

​In this sentence, what does past perfect and simple past indicate?

​After the guests had left, I went to bed.

​

​Contracted Had

​In informal writing, you may contract had such as in:

• ​We'd never seen it before.

• ​He'd been home when you called.

​

​However, never contract a word in formal writing.

• ​We had never seen it before.

• ​He had been home when you called.

​Pronunciation Practice

1. ​The children had already fallen asleep.​

2. My roommates had finished dinner by the time I got home.​

3. ​The flood had washed away the bridge.

4. ​I'd cleaned the bathroom before you used it.

​Listen and fill in the blank.

​In 1980, my parents .... to the United States from China. They ..... outside of China and were, of course, excited by the challenge of relocating to a foreign country. Eventually, they .... in California. My sister and I were born there and ... up there. Last year, I ... to China for the first time to study at Beijing University. I ... to visit China and learn more about my own family background. My dream was finally realized.