The Past Perfect Tense

Click here to download this explanation as a pdf.

Learn about USING the past perfect here.

The positive - make it with 'had' + the past participle (usually made by adding 'ed' to the infinitive, but a few verbs have irregular past participles):

(Also, here's some help if you are not sure how to pronounce '-ed' at the end of a verb).

• I had been (I'd been)
• You had gone (you'd gone)
• She had met (she'd met)
• He had played (he'd played)
• It had rained (it'd rained)
• We had bought (we'd bought)
• They had studied (they'd studied)

The short form for 'had' is 'd.
(Be careful not to confuse it with 'would'. Would is followed by the infinitive - 'I'd go', whereas had is followed by the past participle - 'I'd gone').

For the negative just add 'not':

• I had not been (I hadn't been)
• You had not gone (you hadn't gone)
• She had not met (she hadn't met)
• He had not played (he hadn't played)
• It had not rained (it hadn't rained)
• We had not bought (we hadn't bought)
• They had not studied (they hadn't studied)

Here's a exercise about the positive and negative forms.

And to make a 'yes / no' question put 'had' before the subject:

• Had I come?
• Had you eaten?
• Had she gone?
• Had it rained?
• Had he studied?
• Had we met?
• Had they left?

For 'wh' questions put the question word at the beginning:

• When had I come?
• Why had you eaten?
• Where had she gone?
• When had it rained?
• Why had he studied?
• How had we met?
• When had they left?

Finally here's an exercise about past perfect questions.

Learn about USING the past perfect here