5322-071.htm

Past perfect

The form of the past perfect

The past perfect has a reasonably straightforward form:

Granny Gong remembered that Miss Lee had noticed the children sleeping in class.

The past perfect has both a straightforward form and straightforward use; however, students sometimes have difficulty using the past perfect correctly. For a summary of the form and function of the past perfect, click here:

The past perfect is formed using the past simple form of the auxiliary verb have and the past participle of the main verb:

	singular		plural
first person	I	had played	we	had played
second person	you	had played	you	had played
third person	he she it	had played had played had played	they	had played

The past participle can be regular or irregular. For most verbs it is regular, and formed by adding -ed to the base form of the verb:

	singular		plural
first person	I	had played	we	had played
second person	you	had played	you	had played
third person	he she it	had played had played had played	they	had played

The past participle for some verbs is irregular (eat - eaten, go - gone, leave - left).

For more information, see Grammar: Word classes: Verbs: Verb formation: Irregular verbs

Pronunciation

Students commonly have difficulty with the pronunciation of the contracted form of the past perfect.

For more information, see

Text types: Recounts: Telling about past events

Tell me more ...

Using the past perfect
Using the past perfect with other tenses
Reported speech
Situations which did not happen
The past perfect in dependent clauses
Adverbs with the past perfect
Past perfect in Questions and negative Statements