Grammar: The Past Perfect Tense in English

What is the Past Perfect Tense? See examples and how to form the Past Perfect Tense.

Contents

Forming the Past Perfect Tense

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.

Positive form:

S + had + past participle + …

E.g. She had finished.

Negative form:

S + had not + past participle + …

(had not = hadn’t)

E.g. She hadn’t finished.

Question form:

Had + S + past participle + …?

E.g. Had she finished?

E.g. Richard had gone out when his wife arrived in the office.

E.g. Christine had never been to an opera before last night.

E.g. We had owned that car for ten years before it broke down.

E.g. I got stuck in traffic because there had been an accident.

E.g. I had been to London twice by the time I got a job in New York.

Past Perfect Tense