Past Perfect Tense in English with Helpful Examples

Learn the definition, rules, usage, example sentences, and practice exercises of the past perfect tense in English. Learn the entire lesson and enhance your English grammar learning skills.

Table of Contents

Past Perfect Tense

Use the past perfect when you want to refer to a past action, state, or event that occurred prior to another time in the past. The more recent past time may be expressed as a prepositional phrase or as a clause in which another action, state, or event is mentioned.

PAST ACTION BEFORE PAST TIME: They had finished the project by Friday.
PAST STATE BEFORE PAST ACTION: He had been depressed before he went on vacation.

You can also use the past perfect to refer to a hypothetical action, state, or event.

HYPOTHETICAL ACTION: If they had come earlier, they would have received free tickets.

The past perfect consists of the auxiliary verb have and the perfect/passive form of the main verb. The auxiliary verb is marked for past tense. The perfect/passive verb form is used to indicate either the perfect aspect or the passive voice. The perfect/passive form for regular verbs consists of the base form of the verb and the ending -ed.

	Singular	Plural
First Person	I had verb + ed	we had verb + ed
Second Person	you had verb + ed	you had verb + ed
Third Person	he, she, it had verb + ed	they had verb + ed

When a one-syllable word or a word with a stressed final syllable ends in a single consonant sound, double the last letter before adding -ed.

One-syllable word: pat ➞ patted
Word ending in a stressed syllable: occur ➞ occurred
BUT tow ➞ towed [This word ends in a vowel sound.]

Past Perfect Tense Exercise

Exercise-1

Complete each sentence with the past perfect form of the verb in parentheses.

1. Before 2016, they ———— (attend) college in Philadelphia.
2. After we ———— (hold) a meeting, we announced our decision.
3. They ———— (sell) most of their furniture before they moved.
4. The employees ———— (meet) the new director already.
5. I ———— (feel) uneasy before I gave my speech.
6. He ———— (hit) twenty home runs before the All-Star Game.
7. We ———— (sit) down right before the concert began.
8. She ———— (run) three marathons by the age of twenty.
9. It ———— (snow) so much that school was canceled.
10. She ———— (be) there so often that everyone knew her.

Past Perfect Tense Exercise

Exercise-2

Using the verbs in parentheses, complete each sentence with either the simple past or the past perfect.

1. The taxi ———— (arrive) after he ———— (left).

2. After we ———— (finish) the dishes, we ———— (go) for a walk.

3. The teacher ———— (assign) twenty problems, but most students ———— (complete) only fifteen of them.

4. She ———— (be) tired because she ———— (work) late the night before.

5. He ———— (wear) the ring that his grandfather ———— (give) him.

6. I ———— (revise) a paper that I ———— (write) a year ago.

7. She ———— (knock) on the door before she ———— (enter).

8. All of a sudden we ———— (know) that we ———— (take) the wrong exit off the freeway.

9. He ———— (read) aloud from a new book he ———— (receive) as a gift.

10. They ———— (celebrate) because they ———— (pass) all their classes.

Forming Negatives

To make a past perfect verb negative, place not after the auxiliary verb.

Structure:

Subject + had not + past participle of the verb + object

Example:

He had not eaten.

had not gone

Past Perfect Tense Exercise

Exercise-3

Complete each of the following sentences with a negative form of the past perfect. Use the subject and verb provided.

EXAMPLE:

He, finish
It was midnight, and he had not finished his paper.

1. They, meet

———— before.

2. It, change
———— Because color, no one could see it.

3. We, consider

———— all the possibilities.

4. He, want

———— help from us.

5. She, drive

———— to the party.

6. You, speak

———— English before you came here.

7. I, sent

———— my application in on time.

Past Perfect Tense

Forming Contractions

Contractions are often formed by combining pronouns and the auxiliary verb had or by combining the auxiliary verb had and not. You will often hear these contractions in conversation or see them in informal writing.

Notice that an apostrophe indicates that at least one letter is omitted:

I’d gone	I hadn’t gone
You’d gone	You hadn’t gone
He’d gone	He hadn’t gone
She’d gone	She hadn’t gone
It’d gone	It hadn’t gone
They’d gone	They hadn’t gone

Past Perfect Tense

Forming yes-or-no Questions

To form yes-or-no questions, begin the question with the auxiliary verb had. After the auxiliary verb, place the subject and the perfect/passive form of the main verb.

Structure:

Had + subject + past participle of the verb?

Example:

Had you studied?

Statement: She had taught in Mexico before she moved here.
Yes/no question: Had she taught in Mexico before she moved here?

Exercise-4

Rewrite the following statements as yes/no questions.

EXAMPLE:

He hadn’t known about the bad roads before he left.
Hadn’t he known about the bad roads before he left?

1. She hadn’t called before she arrived.

2. They hadn’t obtained permission before they started the experiment.

3. Pat had won the first race before he ran the second race.

4. They had closed the road.

5. They had canceled the game without prior notice.

Past Perfect Tense

Forming Wh-Questions

In wh-questions, when the question word is the subject of the sentence, the form of the question is similar to the form of a statement.

Structure:

Had + subject + past participle of the verb + object?

Example:

Had they gone?

Statement: Jackie had not studied English before coming to the United States.
Wh-question: Who had not studied English before coming to the United States?

When the question word is any other part of the sentence, the auxiliary verb had comes after the question word and is followed by the subject and the perfect/passive form of the main verb.

Statement: He had walked two miles before he realized his mistake.
Wh-question: How far had he walked before he realized his mistake?

Exercise-5

Complete the following questions based on the statements provided.

EXAMPLE:

Sharon had worked in Taiwan before she moved to Kuala Lumpur.
Where had Sharon worked before she moved to Kuala Lumpur?

1. Peggy and Mel had received job offers before they graduated.
Who ———— ———— ———— ———— ———— ————
2. Peter had broken six track records by the age of eighteen.
How many track records ———— ———— ———— ————
3. She had taught English for ten years before she went to law school.
How long ———— ———— ———— ———— ————
4. He had arrived at the gate a minute before the flight attendant closed the door to the plane.
When ———— ———— ———— ———— ———— ———— ———— ————
5. They had dated for two years before they got married.
How long ———— ———— ———— ———— ————