GRAMMAR BOOSTER
Affirmative
- I had seen it before.
- You had seen it before.
- He had seen it before.
- She had seen it before.
- It had seen it before.
- We had seen it before.
- They had seen it before.
Negative
- I hadn’t seen it before.
- You hadn’t seen it before.
- He hadn’t seen it before.
- She hadn’t seen it before.
- It hadn’t seen it before.
- We hadn’t seen it before.
- They hadn’t seen it before.
Interrogative
- Had I seen it before?
- Had you seen it before?
- Had he seen it before?
- Had she seen it before?
- Had it seen it before?
- Had we seen it before?
- Had they seen it before?
The abbreviated forms are: I’d, you’d, he’d, she’d, it’d, we’d, they’d.
We form the Past Perfect with had + a past participle.
It’s Sunday morning and Josh and Karen have just met in the street. Josh had planned to go away for the weekend. [Listen and complete with the correct nouns.]
Karen: Josh, how’s it going?
Josh: Not bad.
Karen: Weren’t you supposed to be in Frankfurt this (1) weekend? What happened?
Josh: Yeah, but I never made it.
Karen: Oh, no.
Josh: Well, just when I got to the (2) airport, I realised that I’d left my passport at home. So, I had to race back (3) home to pick it up. Luckily, I’d left home really early so I had enough time.
Karen: Phew!
Josh: Yeah, well, anyway, I got back to the airport and rushed to the (4) check-in counter, but as I was going through the security checkpoint, they told me that the e-ticket that I’d printed off wasn’t a valid boarding (5) pass. So, I couldn’t go through.
Karen: What a disaster!
Josh: Yeah, but I never made it.
Karen: The abbreviated forms are: I’d, you’d, he’d, she’d, it’d, we’d, they’d.
Josh: By the time I’d messed around printing it off again, the (6) flight had already left.
Karen: Oh, no.
Josh: So, anyway, I booked another (7) flight for later that day, but when I went to put in my credit card details, I couldn’t find my wallet. I don’t know what had happened. I must have dropped it somewhere. Anyway, I had to spend the next (8) hour or so reporting my lost credit cards. In the end, I just went back to bed.
Karen: Sometimes, it’s the only solution!
We can use the Past Perfect to refer to an action that happened before another Past Simple action. For example: “When I arrived at the cinema, the film had already started.”
8:30pm: The film started.
9pm: I arrived at the cinema.
“The film had already started when I arrived at the cinema.”
An illustration of the Past Perfect timeline:
We can use question words (who, what, when, where, why, etc.) with the Past Perfect. For example:
a) Where had you put it?
b) What had they done?
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