Past Perfect Forms
The past perfect is formed using had + past participle. Questions are indicated by inverting the
subject and had. Negatives are made with not.
Statement: You had studied English before you moved to New York.
Question: Had you studied English before you moved to New York?
Negative: You had not studied English before you moved to New York.
Past Perfect Uses
USE 1 Completed Action Before Something in the Past
The past perfect expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past.
It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past.
Examples:
I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to Kauai.
I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet.
Tony knew Istanbul so well because he had visited the city several times.
Had Susan ever studied Thai before she moved to Thailand?
She only understood the movie because she had read the book.
Kristine had never been to an opera before last night.
We were not able to get a hotel room because we had not booked in advance.
A: Had you ever visited the U.S. before your trip in 2006?
B: Yes, I had been to the U.S. once before.
USE 2 Duration Before Something in the Past (Non-Continuous
Verbs)
With non-continuous verbs and some non-continuous uses of mixed verbs, we use the past
perfect to show that something started in the past and continued up until another action in the
past.
Examples:
We had had that car for ten years before it broke down.
By the time Alex finished his studies, he had been in London for over eight years.
They felt bad about selling the house because they had owned it for more than forty
years.
Although the above use of past perfect is normally limited to non-continuous verbs and non-
continuous uses of mixed verbs, the words "live," "work," "teach," and "study" are sometimes
used in this way even though they are NOT non-continuous verbs.
