Past Perfect Tense

MyEnglishTeacher.
net
That was BEFORE!!
Lesson Topic: Using The Past Perfect

Look at the following sentences. Which happened first?
We all felt so sick. We took strange medicine.
We can only assume that the people in the above situation, first, felt sick and then took strange
medicine. However, in English, there is grammar that can make the above situation very clear. It is
called the past perfect.
You probably know what perfect means (100% pure, no problems). However, in English grammar,
the word perfect means past. Whenever you see the word perfect referring to English grammar,
just say past. Therefore, the past perfect means past past. This is exactly what the past
perfect means: the past past. In other words, it is an action that happened (and finished) before
another action in the past.
Look at the time line below.
I ate a big I went to

Now
breakfast. school.
7:30am 8:00am
What happened first? What happened second?
First: I ate breakfast.
Second: I went to school.
REMEMBER: Both of these activities happened in the past! However, one happened before the
other.
Here is a common way to write (or say) these two actions using the past perfect. The past
perfect is written in red.
Before I went to school, I had eaten a big breakfast.
-OR-
After I had eaten breakfast, I went to school.

What do you notice about the past perfect? First, you should have noticed that the past perfect is
the action (had eaten a big breakfast) that happened BEFORE the other action in the past (went to
school).
The second thing you probably noticed is that the past perfect is written with had and a past
participle. The past participle and the simple past are usually the same if the simple past ends in -
ed. If the simple past does NOT end in -ed, the past participle is probably different from the simple
past. To see a list of these irregular simple past verbs and past participle verbs, click here (the past
participles are in orange).
Here is how the past perfect is formed:
I had eaten
subject + had + past participle
Here's another timeline. Look at the timeline and make a sentence with the past perfect and the
word before.
Sam
Carol got
cooked Now
home
dinner
1:30pm 3:00pm
book recommendation
Action Grammar: Fast, Easy Answers on
Everyday Usage and Punctuation
The author, Joanne Feierman, focuses on the

grammar most of us need in everyday life, from
"Five Lies Your English Teacher Told You" to
"Simple Business Verbs You Should Know." She
also includes helpful sections on memos, letter
writing, and e-mail etiquette, as well as an appendix
of troublesome words and phrases, and words that
are easy to misspell. Click here for more
information.
First: Sam cooked dinner.

Second: Carol got home.
Therefore, the answer is
Before Carol got home, Sam had already cooked dinner.
NOTE: The past participle of cook is cooked, which is the same as the simple past (cooked).
Using the word after, you can write the following:
After Sam had cooked dinner, Carol got home.
If you use the words after or before in this type of situation, the simple past is sometimes used with
BOTH actions because the words after and before already make the time relationship clear. In
other words, when the words after and before are used, the past perfect is sometimes NOT
used. The following example shows this:
Before Carol got home, Sam cooked dinner.

After Sam cooked dinner, Carol got home.
Although the past perfect is sometimes not used in this type of situation, we recommend you use
the past perfect, especially in formal writing.
There are other phrases that are commonly used with the past perfect:
by (time) by the time when
By, by the time, and when mean before.
Take a look at the following examples:
By 3:30, Carol had already gotten home.

By the time Carol got home, Sam had already cooked dinner.
When Carol got home, Sam had already cooked dinner.
Now, let's go back to the first sentence above.
Which happened first? The answer is we don't know. The writer of these 2 sentences didn't use
the past perfect. As far as we know, these 2 events could have happened at the same time. Now,
you know why using the past perfect is so important.
book recommendation
Better Sentence Writing in 30 Minutes a Day features
clear discussions of rules and strategies for good writing.
Clear explanations and lots of exercises reinforce the
skills needed for strong written communication. From
filling in the blanks to joining short sentences into longer
and more graceful combinations, this book will improve
your writing. All the answers to the quizzes are given in
the back of the book. Click here for more information.
Quiz time
Directions: Read and rewrite the following sentences using the past perfect. Combine the sentences using the
word or phrase given. The first one has been done for you.
1. First: Bill bought a house in Barcelona.
Second: Mary moved to Barcelona.
Phrase or Word: Before
Answer: Before Mary moved to Barcelona, Bill had already bought a house there.
2. First: The children finished dinner.
Second: They ate ice cream.
Phrase or Word: After
3. First: Millions of Native Americans (American Indians) were in North America for thousands of
years.
Second: Christopher Columbus landed in North America in 1492.
Phrase or Word: When
4. First: In 1753, Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier became the world’s first human flier by using a
balloon.
Second: The Wright Brothers flew their first plane on December 17, 1903.
Phrase or Word: By the time

5. First: The world went from the Wright Brothers’ first flight in Kitty Hawk to the moon.
Second: 1970
Phrase or Word: By 1970
6. First: The world’s population hit the 6 billion mark.
Second: December 31, 2000
Phrase or Word: By the end of the 20th century.
7. First: The National Free Bank made bad investments.
Second: They went bankrupt.
8. First: Professor Lee taught at Beijing university for 32 years.
Second: Professor Lee retired.
9. First: Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reached the North Pole in 1909.
Second: Robert Scott and four others reached the South Pole in 1912.
10. First: The buffalo almost became extinct.
Second: 1900
Have you visited our TOEFL Help Center? Go

to http://www.MyEnglishTeacher.net/TOEFL
Answers are in red.
Before Mary moved to Barcelona, Bill had already bought a house there.
After the children had finished dinner, they ate ice cream.
3. First: Millions of Native Americans (American Indians) were in North America for thousands of years.
When Christopher Columbus landed in North America in 1492, millions of Native Americans had
already been there for thousands of years.
4. First: In 1753, Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier became the world’s first human flier by using a balloon.
By the time the Wright Brothers flew their first plane in 1903, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier had
already become the world’s first human flier 150 years earlier by using a balloon.
Second: 1970
By 1970, the world had gone from the Wright Brothers’ first flight in Kitty Hawk to the moon in just 66
years.
By the end of the 20th century, the world’s population had hit the 6 billion mark.
After the National Free Bank had made bad investments, they went bankrupt.
When Professor Lee retired, he had already taught at Beijing University for 32 years.
By the time Robert Scott and four others reached the South Pole in 1912, Robert Peary and Matthew
Henson had already reached the North Pole 3 years earlier.
Second: 1900
By 1900, the buffalo had almost become extinct.
Rules to Remember!
1
The words already and just go between had and the past participle.
Example: When Professor Lee retired, he had already taught at Beijing University for 32
years.
2
The negative of the past perfect is formed by putting not between had and the past
participle. The word still is often used with the negative form of the past perfect.
Example: By the end of the book, I still had not understood what the author’s opinion was.
3
Unless it is absolutely necessary, do not use specific years in both clauses (parts of the
sentence). Even though you don't write the year the event happened, you can still be
specific. Notice the way we rewrote #4 above. Both of the original sentences had years;
however, only one of the clauses in the final answer has a year written. Instead of
writing 1753, we wrote 150 years earlier.
First: In 1753, Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier became the world’s first human flier by using
a balloon.
By the time the Wright Brothers flew their first plane in 1903, Jean-Francois Pilatre de
Rozier had already become the world’s first human flier 150 years earlier by using a balloon.
MyEnglishTeacher.net
That was BEFORE!!
Lesson Topic: Using The Past Perfect

Look at the following sentences. Which happened first?
We can only assume that the people in the above situation, first, felt sick and then took strange
medicine. However, in English, there is grammar that can make the above situation very clear. It is
called the past perfect.
You probably know what perfect means (100% pure, no problems). However, in English grammar,
the word perfect means past. Whenever you see the word perfect referring to English grammar,
just say past. Therefore, the past perfect means past past. This is exactly what the past
perfect means: the past past. In other words, it is an action that happened (and finished) before
another action in the past.
Look at the time line below.
I ate a big I went to

Now
breakfast. school.
7:30am 8:00am
First: I ate breakfast.
Second: I went to school.
REMEMBER: Both of these activities happened in the past! However, one happened before the
other.
Here is a common way to write (or say) these two actions using the past perfect. The past
perfect is written in red.
Before I went to school, I had eaten a big breakfast.
-OR-
After I had eaten breakfast, I went to school.

What do you notice about the past perfect? First, you should have noticed that the past perfect is
the action (had eaten a big breakfast) that happened BEFORE the other action in the past (went to
school).
The second thing you probably noticed is that the past perfect is written with had and a past
participle. The past participle and the simple past are usually the same if the simple past ends in -
ed. If the simple past does NOT end in -ed, the past participle is probably different from the simple
past. To see a list of these irregular simple past verbs and past participle verbs, click here (the past
participles are in orange).
Here is how the past perfect is formed:
I had eaten
subject + had + past participle
Here's another timeline. Look at the timeline and make a sentence with the past perfect and the
word before.
Sam
Carol got
cooked Now
home
dinner
1:30pm 3:00pm
book recommendation
Action Grammar: Fast, Easy Answers on
Everyday Usage and Punctuation
The author, Joanne Feierman, focuses on the

grammar most of us need in everyday life, from
"Five Lies Your English Teacher Told You" to
"Simple Business Verbs You Should Know." She
also includes helpful sections on memos, letter
writing, and e-mail etiquette, as well as an appendix
of troublesome words and phrases, and words that
are easy to misspell. Click here for more
information.
First: Sam cooked dinner.

Second: Carol got home.
Therefore, the answer is
Before Carol got home, Sam had already cooked dinner.
NOTE: The past participle of cook is cooked, which is the same as the simple past (cooked).
Using the word after, you can write the following:
After Sam had cooked dinner, Carol got home.
If you use the words after or before in this type of situation, the simple past is sometimes used with
BOTH actions because the words after and before already make the time relationship clear. In
other words, when the words after and before are used, the past perfect is sometimes NOT
used. The following example shows this:
Before Carol got home, Sam cooked dinner.

After Sam cooked dinner, Carol got home.
Although the past perfect is sometimes not used in this type of situation, we recommend you use
the past perfect, especially in formal writing.
There are other phrases that are commonly used with the past perfect:
by (time) by the time when
By, by the time, and when mean before.
Take a look at the following examples:
By 3:30, Carol had already gotten home.

By the time Carol got home, Sam had already cooked dinner.
When Carol got home, Sam had already cooked dinner.
Now, let's go back to the first sentence above.
Which happened first? The answer is we don't know. The writer of these 2 sentences didn't use
the past perfect. As far as we know, these 2 events could have happened at the same time. Now,
you know why using the past perfect is so important.
book recommendation
Better Sentence Writing in 30 Minutes a Day features
clear discussions of rules and strategies for good writing.
Clear explanations and lots of exercises reinforce the
skills needed for strong written communication. From
filling in the blanks to joining short sentences into longer
and more graceful combinations, this book will improve
your writing. All the answers to the quizzes are given in
the back of the book. Click here for more information.
Quiz time
Directions: Read and rewrite the following sentences using the past perfect. Combine the sentences using the
word or phrase given. The first one has been done for you.
Answer: Before Mary moved to Barcelona, Bill had already bought a house there.
3. First: Millions of Native Americans (American Indians) were in North America for thousands of
years.
4. First: In 1753, Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier became the world’s first human flier by using a
balloon.

Second: 1970
Second: 1900
Have you visited our TOEFL Help Center? Go

to http://www.MyEnglishTeacher.net/TOEFL
Answers are in red.
Before Mary moved to Barcelona, Bill had already bought a house there.
After the children had finished dinner, they ate ice cream.
3. First: Millions of Native Americans (American Indians) were in North America for thousands of years.
When Christopher Columbus landed in North America in 1492, millions of Native Americans had
already been there for thousands of years.
4. First: In 1753, Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier became the world’s first human flier by using a balloon.
By the time the Wright Brothers flew their first plane in 1903, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier had
already become the world’s first human flier 150 years earlier by using a balloon.
Second: 1970
By 1970, the world had gone from the Wright Brothers’ first flight in Kitty Hawk to the moon in just 66
years.
By the end of the 20th century, the world’s population had hit the 6 billion mark.
After the National Free Bank had made bad investments, they went bankrupt.
When Professor Lee retired, he had already taught at Beijing University for 32 years.
By the time Robert Scott and four others reached the South Pole in 1912, Robert Peary and Matthew
Henson had already reached the North Pole 3 years earlier.
Second: 1900
By 1900, the buffalo had almost become extinct.
Rules to Remember!
1
The words already and just go between had and the past participle.
Example: When Professor Lee retired, he had already taught at Beijing University for 32
years.
2
The negative of the past perfect is formed by putting not between had and the past
participle. The word still is often used with the negative form of the past perfect.
Example: By the end of the book, I still had not understood what the author’s opinion was.
3
Unless it is absolutely necessary, do not use specific years in both clauses (parts of the
sentence). Even though you don't write the year the event happened, you can still be
specific. Notice the way we rewrote #4 above. Both of the original sentences had years;
however, only one of the clauses in the final answer has a year written. Instead of
writing 1753, we wrote 150 years earlier.
First: In 1753, Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier became the world’s first human flier by using
a balloon.
By the time the Wright Brothers flew their first plane in 1903, Jean-Francois Pilatre de
Rozier had already become the world’s first human flier 150 years earlier by using a balloon.

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MyEnglishTeacher.

Lesson Topic: Using The Past Perfect

Look at the time line below.

I ate a big I went to

What happened first? What happened second?

First: I ate breakfast.

Second: I went to school.

Before I went to school, I had eaten a big breakfast.

After I had eaten breakfast, I went to school.

Here is how the past perfect is formed:

The author, Joanne Feierman, focuses on the

What happened first? What happened second?

First: Sam cooked dinner.

Therefore, the answer is

Before Carol got home, Sam had already cooked dinner.

Using the word after, you can write the following:

After Sam had cooked dinner, Carol got home.

Before Carol got home, Sam cooked dinner.

by (time) by the time when

By, by the time, and when mean before.

Take a look at the following examples:

By 3:30, Carol had already gotten home.

Now, let's go back to the first sentence above.

We all felt so sick. We took strange medicine.

1. First: Bill bought a house in Barcelona.

Second: Mary moved to Barcelona.

Phrase or Word: Before

2. First: The children finished dinner.

Second: They ate ice cream.

Phrase or Word: After

Second: Christopher Columbus landed in North America in 1492.

Phrase or Word: When

Phrase or Word: By the time

Phrase or Word: By 1970

6. First: The world’s population hit the 6 billion mark.

Second: December 31, 2000

Phrase or Word: By the end of the 20th century.

7. First: The National Free Bank made bad investments.

Second: They went bankrupt.

Phrase or Word: After

8. First: Professor Lee taught at Beijing university for 32 years.

Second: Professor Lee retired.

Phrase or Word: When

Phrase or Word: By the time

10. First: The buffalo almost became extinct.

Phrase or Word: By 1900

Have you visited our TOEFL Help Center? Go

1. First: Bill bought a house in Barcelona.

Second: Mary moved to Barcelona.

Phrase or Word: Before

2. First: The children finished dinner.

Second: They ate ice cream.

Phrase or Word: After

Second: Christopher Columbus landed in North America in 1492.

Phrase or Word: When

Phrase or Word: By the time

Phrase or Word: By 1970

6. First: The world’s population hit the 6 billion mark.

Second: December 31, 2000

Phrase or Word: By the end of the 20th century.

7. First: The National Free Bank made bad investments.

Second: They went bankrupt.

Phrase or Word: After

8. First: Professor Lee taught at Beijing university for 32 years.