Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect, also called the past of the past, is a verb tense used to talk about actions that were completed before some point in the past. 

In this lesson, we will explore the formation and usage of the past perfect tense.

What is the Past Perfect Tense?

The past perfect tense is used to describe an action that was completed before another action in the past. It can help us show the order of past events when two things happened at different times.

How to Form The Past Perfect ?

The past perfect is formed using the auxiliary verb "had" followed by the past participle of the main verb.

+	Subject + had + past participle
-	Subject + had  not + past participle
?	Had + subject + past participle + ?

Examples:

+	I had finished my homework. She had baked cookies. They had gone to the park.
-	I had not left. She had not gone to school. They had not finished their project.
?	Had I arrived? Had she left? Had they eaten dinner?

Uses of Past Perfect:

1. To show that an action happened before a specific time in the past:

For example:

I had left the house before it started raining.

She had already finished cleaning when her sister arrived.

2. To show that an action happened before a specific time in the past:

For example:

By the time I was 12, I had visited six countries.

She had never eaten Couscous until last year.

3. In reported speech, when the original speaker used the past simple tense:

For example:

He said he had seen a ghost.

She told me she had bought a new book.

Signal Words
Before	I had finished my work before my boss arrived.
Already	They had already left when I got there.
After	After she had studied for the exam, she went for a walk in the park.
As soon as	I had booked my tickets as soon as I received my bonus.
When	When we had done the washing-up, we watched TV.
Until	The party couldn't start until Hassan had arrived.