Learning English

Two events in the past...

In this unit we're looking at the past perfect tense. We use it when two actions or events in a sentence happened in the past, and we need to show which one happened first. For example:

• When I arrived home, my son had baked an enormous carrot cake.

In this sentence, the son baked the cake first, then the parent arrived home. Did you notice how the grammar worked? Well, we're going to explore that at the bottom of this page, but first, we'd like to see how much you know already - or can work out for yourself.

Read the text and complete the activity

To do

First let's read this story about a woman called Roberta. She's had a terrible day. We'll look at how the past perfect works, and then we'll do an exercise to test your understanding of the past perfect tense.

The story

I had a terrible day today. It started badly and just got worse.

I woke up late because I'd forgotten to set my alarm clock. Because I was late, I ran to the train station but when I got there I realised I hadn't brought my season ticket. I missed my train.

By the time I arrived at work, the staff meeting had already started. I really wanted to finish work at the usual time of 5pm because I wanted to see my favourite band at a concert. But I couldn’t leave on time because I hadn’t completed the report my boss had asked for.

I left work late - and by the time I arrived at the concert venue, the band had already finished playing. I wept like a child.

Past perfect tense: Meaning and use

What happened first: my son made a cake

What happened second: I arrived

We use the past perfect part of the sentence to show which event happened first (and often the past simple to say what happened second):

• When I arrived home, my son had already made an enormous carrot cake.

We can also change the order of events in the sentence, and still show what happened first.

• My son had made an enormous carrot cake when I arrived home.

Form

The past perfect is made with subject + had/hadn’t + past participle.

Positive

• When my parents got to the station, they realised they had left the tickets at home.
• By the time Mark arrived at work, the staff meeting had already started.
• I woke up late because I’d forgotten to set my alarm clock.

Negative

• Kerry couldn’t leave work on time because she hadn't written the report.
• They didn’t tell the police about the accident they had seen.

Question

• Had you finished your homework before the movie started?
• Hadn't John told them what he wanted?

Important note

The most common mistake with the past perfect is to overuse it, or to use it simply because we are talking about a time in the distant past. The past perfect sentence The Romans had spoken Latin would be better in the past simple: The Romans spoke Latin.

Remember that we only use the past perfect when we want to refer to a past that is earlier than another time in the narrative.

Extra tip: time expressions

Quite often with the past perfect we use adverbs like already and just:

• When I arrived home, my sister had already made lunch.
• I had just taken off my coat when the telephone rang.

We also use time expressions like when, before and by the time:

• When I arrived at the concert venue, the band had already finished playing.
• Had you finished your meal before your friend arrived?
• By the time we got to the party all the food had gone.

Next

Now that you've seen the tense in action, it's time to use your knowledge to complete another activity. It's time to test the form!