We use the Past Perfect for something that started in the past and continued up to a given time in the past.
Negative sentences
To make negative statements in the Past Perfect, we use:
had not (hadn’t) + Past Participle
This is often used to explain or give a reason for something in the past.
| Singular | Plural |
| I had not (hadn’t) left You hadn’t left He/she/it hadn’t left | We hadn’t left You hadn’t left They hadn’t left |
- Nick hadn’t attended our meeting, so we discussed everything without him.
- I hadn’t read the play before I went to the theater to see it.
- They were so excited. They hadn’tdanced together since 2014.
Questions in Past Perfect
We use Past Perfect tense to ask and answer questions about actions that took place before a certain moment or another action in the past.
To make questions in the Past Perfect, we put ‘had’ before the subject and add the Past Participle form of the verb:
- Had they arrived in New York before it got dark?
Yes/No questions
To create a question that will be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, use ‘Had‘ (or ‘Hadn’t‘ for a negative question) + Past Participle form of the verb.
| Singular | Plural |
| Had I seen? Had you seen? Had he/she/it seen? | Had we seen? Had you seen? Had they seen? |
- Had you seen Helen playing squash with Nicole before the rain started?
- Had he made any mistakes before the teacher asked him to hand in the test?
- You looked pale. Had anybody scared you?
| Note: In short positive answers to the Past Perfect questions we use only full forms of ‘had’. In short negative answers we can also use short forms of ‘had’. |
- Had you made your homework before the movie started?
- Yes, I had (No, I hadn’t).
- Had he already finished cleaning when you came in?
- Yes, he had (No, he hadn’t).
Special questions
Special questions (also known as wh-questions) are questions that require more information in their answers. They are made using wh- words such as what, where, when, why, which, who, how, how many, how much.
To make a special question, use the same word order as with yes-no questions but put a wh-word before the verb ‘had’. The structure is:
wh-word + had + [subject] + Past Participle
- How had she washed clothes before the light went off?
- Why had Roy gone to America?
- How much had she studied before the exam?
- How many cups of coffee had he drunk before the interview?
See also:
