Past Perfect

Past Perfect Tense

The pluperfect is another term used for the past perfect tense, and it is used when we refer to actions that were already done before a certain moment when another action took place in the past.

For example:

This morning we were surprised to see that someone had splashed paint on the side of our van. Thankfully, the paint that the culprit had used was washable, so it would easily come off. 

The past perfect tense is used when you’re referring to an event that has taken place before another one in the past. If you were to wake up in the morning and step out to buy some milk and find that there was paint splashed all over your van, how would you talk about it? Perhaps you would say – “I was just about to get inside the van when I noticed that someone had splashed paint on the side of my van.”

Your friends would understand that the paint had been splashed before the point in the morning when you woke up. It is because you used the past perfect tense to talk about it.

Using Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense formula is using the past participle after the word ‘had’ regardless of whether the subject is plural or singular. But when do you use the simple past? And when do you use past perfect tense? 

If you’re referring to a moment in the past and want to talk about something that happened even before that, past perfect is what you can use to be able to talk about the timeline of events properly. This gives your sentence a lot more clarity and is easily understandable. 

Here are two sentences that you can look at. Carrying on from the example in the previous section, let’s assume you find out from your friend Jasmine that Fred was the one who splashed paint on your van.

We were relieved to find out that Fred had used a washable paint on the car. We were relieved to find out that Fred used washable paint.

There is a very slight difference between the two, but it does exist. The second sentence may make it sound like it’s a good thing that Fred uses washable paint in general. But with the first one, we know that you’re talking about a very particular situation when washable paint had been used.

You can also talk about a condition and a result and then use the past perfect. For example:

If I had gone out earlier in the morning to get milk, I would have been able to stop Fred.

The usage of past perfect here is what explains the if-clause and, thereby, the condition. 

Most of the time, when we use the past perfect tense of a verb, we are trying to show that an event has happened before another. Thus, it is used in the sentence and the describing verbs are used in the simple past tense. It is a bit odd to write an entire paragraph down and only use the past perfect tense for all of the verbs.

But remember that there is no need to use the past perfect if you’re not referring to a timeline of particular events that happened chronologically. For example, if you are asked by a friend what you did when you found the paint on your van, there may be some confusion if you say:

I had wiped it off the van.

Your friend may still want to know what you did immediately after because using the past perfect here has the implication that there was something else that happened after you wiped the van, but you aren’t telling them what it is. There is a context that is needed when talking about what actually happened, even if there is no need for an explicit mention. Since there is a lack of context, the sentence doesn’t necessarily make sense.

Making Past Perfect Negative and Asking a Question

Let’s talk now about how you can make the past perfect negative, which is very easy. All you need to do is add in the word ‘not’ between the word ‘had’ and the past participle. For example:

We asked if anyone had seen Fred after that morning, but our friends had not seen him since. 

To ask a question, you just need to add the subject between ‘had’ and the past participle. For example:

Had Fred done this to anyone else’s vehicle before ours?

Past Perfect Tense Worksheet

Here is a past perfect tense worksheet for you to be able to practice. The answers will be found at the bottom of the worksheet.

1. When I reached the theatre, the show _____ (begin).
2. He _____ (live) in Berlin before he went to Paris.
3. She began to feel sick after she _____ (eat) the shrimp ravioli.
4. He _____  (see) her yesterday.
5. She said that she _____ (practice) for months before the recital.
6. They _____ (not/complete) the project, so they did not pass.
7. You were nervous only because you _____ (not/study) for the exams.
8. She _____ (not/met) her roommate before this.
9. She needed help sending the message because she _____ (not/used) a phone before.
10. He was upset because he _____ (not/had) food the entire day.

Answers:

1. had begun
2. had lived
3. had eaten
4. had seen
5. had practised
6. hadn’t completed
7. hadn’t studied
8. hadn’t met
9. hadn’t used
10. hadn’t had

Conclusion

The past perfect tense is used when we are talking about an action that happened before another one took place in the past. The formula to do this is to place the word ‘had’ before the past participle regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. 

If the word ‘not’ is placed between ‘had’ and the past participle, you can make it negative. And to form a question in the past perfect, you need to place the subject between ‘had’ and the past participle form the verb.