Past Perfect tense
1. The form of past perfect tense
The past perfect tense is written this way: Had + past participle
Ex: had played
Had seen
Had gone
2. The uses of past perfect tense
- The past perfect tense is used to clarify the order of two actions in the past. Consider this example:
My brother went to school at 07h45. I woke up at 09h00.
The 1st action is (my brother went to school) the 2nd action is (I woke up).
So The first action is going to be in the past perfect tense, whereas the second action will be in the simple past.
My brother had gone to school before I woke up.
- The past perfect tense is used to express regret or wishes in the past. consider this example:
Last year I didn’t have good grades because I didn’t work hard.
I regret I hadn’t had good grades.
I wish I had worked hard.
- The past perfect is used with Conditional type 3. consider this example:
Last year I didn’t have good grades because I didn’t work hard.
If I had worked hard, I would have had good grades.
If + past perfect
- The past perfect is used in reported speech. consider these examples:
- Direct speech: ” I saw a film yesterday”
- Indirect: he said he had seen a film yesterday.
- Direct speech: ” We have just finished our meal”
- Indirect: he said they had just finished their meal.
3. Time expressions used with past perfect tense
| As soon as, never, already+ Past perfect | When + Simple past |
| Until, just, since + Past perfect | By the time + Simple past |
| After + Past perfect | Before + Simple past |
Examples :
- My brother had gone to school before I woke up.
- after I had revised my lessons, I watched a film.
- I had never seen such a film before.
Need some exercises? Click Here.
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Thank you so much for your great efforts dear nabil. Please how can I have a look at the page of lesson plans?
wish you all the best
MB
My pleasure. They are here Lesson plans for teachers
* until + simple past not past perfect . Ex: I had stayed in the hotel until I recovered .
* until + past perfect (negative) . Ex: The employees hadn’t stopped smoking until they saw the boss coming into .
P.s : I think we shouldn’t add too many uses to the past perfet as you mentioned ( reported , wishes) and leave this until they have these lessons . Walah o3lam
Thank you so much Sir .
الله يجازيك بالخير اخي الكريم٠
آمين. وإياكم.
Tomorrow must be transformed in the reported speech
First of all thank you so much for sharing, I appreciate the way u teach students… but it seems to me that it d be better to teach only the main use of the past perfect ,that is an action that happened before another in the past… yet, what u shared is an opportunity for teachers to refresh their minds.Keep up the good job . Thank you so much again.