Lesson 17: The Past Perfect Tense

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The past perfect tense follows this Pattern:

• HAD + past participle form of the verb
  
• HAD + been + Verb + -ing
  

* Again, be careful when you are using the past participle form of an irregular verb since irregular verbs have different forms in the past tense and in the past participle tense. See Lesson 19 to see complete list.


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The Past Perfect Tense is used to tell:

1.) An action that happened before another past action or before a definite time in the past.

first action: past perfect tense
second action: past tense

• When we had read (past perfect tense) his letter, we discussed how he wrote (past tense) it.

• When he had eaten (past perfect tense) the cake, I called (past tense) him to come to me.

• We had been taking (past perfect tense) the test when the man entered (past tense) the room.

• I had been stopping (past perfect tense) from smoking when my friend started (past tense) it.
  

More Example Sentences:

• Mrs. Smith had taken her daughters to the farm when his husband insisted to bring the kids back.

• You had been loving me when I hated you so much.

• When I had been loving you, you hated me so much.

• When all of us had realized that we will all die, all of us started to live life happily.

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Exercise:


Complete the following sentences with the past perfect tense of the verb that is provided in each sentence.



1.) The President _____ (greet) us before he went to her office.

2.) My friend _____ (find) her wallet before noon.

3.) The boys _____ (wash) their hands before they had dinner.

4.) My son _____ (lock) the door before he slept.

5.) The senator came after we _____ (ask) him several times.

6.) I found out that my cousin _____ (leave) home.




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~end of lesson~