Past perfect, form
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.
| Subject | had | past participle |
| We | had | decided... |
| Affirmative | | |
| She | had | given. |
| Negative | | |
| We | hadn't | asked. |
| Interrogative | | |
| Had | they | arrived? |
| Interrogative negative |
| Hadn't | you | finished? |
Example: to decide, Past perfect
| Affirmative | Negative | Interrogative |
| I had decided | I hadn't decided | Had I decided? |
| You had decided | You hadn't decided | Had you decided? |
| He, she, it had decided | He hadn't decided | Had she decided? |
| We had decided | We hadn't decided | Had we decided? |
| You had decided | You hadn't decided | Had you decided? |
| They had decided | They hadn't decided | Had they decided? |
Past perfect, function
The past perfect refers to a time
earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.
In these examples, Event A is the first or earliest event, Event B is the second or latest event:
Event B Event B
| a. | John had gone out | when I arrived in the office. |
| Event A | Event B |
| b. | I had saved my document | before the computer crashed. |
| Event A |
|
| c. | When they arrived | we had already started cooking |
| Event B | Event A |
| d. | He was very tired | because he hadn't slept well. |
| Event B | Event A |
Past perfect + just
'Just' is used with the past perfect to refer to an event that was only a short time earlier than before now, e.g.
- The train had just left when I arrived at the station.
- She had just left the room when the police arrived.
- I had just put the washing out when it started to rain.
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