Past Perfect Tense: Definition, Formula, Rules, Examples, Exercise with Answers

The Past Perfect is a subtype of the Past Tense in English Grammar. Have a look at the flow chart of English Tenses below to understand where the Past Perfect falls:

The Past Perfect verb form is used to describe the completion of a past action before another previous one. This tense has four kinds of forms- Affirmative (Positive), Negative, Interrogative and Negative + Interrogative. Scroll below to know about these forms in detail, along with their rules and examples.

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As per the Oxford Dictionary, the Past Perfect Tense is defined as, “the form of a verb that expresses an action completed before a particular point in the past, formed in English with had and the past participle.”

Pronunciation: /pɑːst ˈpɜː.fekt/

The definition of Past Perfect Tense is almost the same as per the Cambridge Dictionary as well.

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The formula of the Past Perfect tense is shared below to help students form correct sentences. The Past Perfect Tense formula informs the students about the structure of sentences formed with this tense. Have a look at the formula below:

Subject + Had + V3 (3rd form of Verb OR Past Participle) + Object

Have a look at a few Past Perfect Tense examples below:         

• We had travelled overseas.
• The CEO of our company had promised us a good appraisal.
• The hotel had asked its customers to vacate the building before the fire took place.
• Shanaya had started her classes on time.
• The boys had played football.

Have a look at the Past Perfect Tense rules below to know how to use the tense:

Rule 1: Past Perfect is used with Simple Past Tense to show two past events. For example:

• He had forgotten to buy bread, so he could not make sandwiches.
• The Police had arrived on time, which prevented the crime from happening.

Rule 2: Use ‘before’ + Past Perfect to describe an incomplete action when the simple past action took place. For example:

• We had visited the backwaters before the floods happened.
• I had done my homework before the summer vacations ended.

Rule 3: Use of Adverbs with Past Perfect, such as already, still, just, never, ever, etc., to convey the time of action. For example:

• The army had already stopped firing before the sirens rang.
• She had just moved to the USA when the flu outbreak happened.

Rule 4: Past Perfect is used to show a condition and a result. For example:

• If Rohit had started the exam on time, he would have completed the paper.
• She would have cleared the test if she had studied hard.

Rule 5: Past Perfect is used in Reported Speech to refer to an action from another person’s point of view. For example:

• Anaya said she had travelled to this country before.
• Ram stated clearly that he had not slapped the guy.

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The Past Perfect Tense in English Grammar has four forms, namely Affirmative, Negative, Interrogative and Negative + Interrogative. Know the Past Perfect Tense forms in detail below, along with their formula or structure and examples:

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In the Past Perfect Tense, the third form of the main Verb or Past Participle is used with ‘had’. Though the majority of the verbs end with ‘ed’, there are several verbs that have different third forms. Have a look at these verb forms used in the past perfect tense below:

Main Verb	V3 or Past Participle
Be	Been
Run	Run
Write	Written
Speak	Spoken
Hear	Heard
Do	Done
Eat	Eaten
See	Seen
Take	Taken
Find	Found
Make	Made
Begin	Begun
Know	Known
Think	Thought
Say	Said
Kneel	Knelt

Have a look at the image below with examples of the Past Perfect tense used with verbs not ending with ‘ed’:

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Have a look at the 10 examples of the Past Perfect tense below:

• Sheetal’s job role was exactly what she had expected.
• The team had finished the project.
• We had booked the hotel in advance.
• The family had just left the country when the emergency was declared.
• I had not seen this movie until today morning.
• Mike had completed his project before the given deadline.
• We had not eaten in that restaurant until last night.
• Ryan had read all three ‘The Lord of the Rings’ novels by the time he turned 15.
• The band had performed this song live when we were in college.
• Had you switched off all the lights before you slept last night?

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