The Past Perfect Tense

The following lesson will show you how to use the Past Perfect Tense in English.

FORMS

The Past Perfect Tense has the following forms:

• Affirmative: S + HAD + Past Participle
• Negative: S + HAD NOT + Past Participle
• Interrogative/Question: HAD + S + Past Participle

USAGE

The Past Perfect Tense is used to express:

• an action that happened before another action in the past
  
  Examples:
  
  When the police arrived, the robbers had already escaped.
  Luckily, I had hidden the book before he entered the room.


• an action that happened before a point of time in the past
  
  Examples:
  
  We had discussed several important matters before lunch.
  The manager had prepared a long report before the meeting.
  

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