UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE NUEVO LEON

FACULTAD DE SALUD PUBLICA Y NUTRICION

PAST PERFECT
Alejandra Guadalupe López Vázquez
Julieta Ruth De León López
Cynthia Lizeth Lomas Bustos

GPO. 502
 PAST PERFECT

• The past perfect, also called the pluperfect, is a verb

tense used to talk about actions that were completed
before some point in the past.

Example:
• We were shocked to discover that someone had
graffitied“Tootles was here” on our front door. We were
relieved that Tootles had used washable paint.
The past perfect formula

• The formula for the past perfect tense is had + [past

participle]. It doesn’t matter if the subject is singular or
plural; the formula doesn’t change.

• Difference between past perfect and simple past?

When you’re talking about some point in the past and want
to reference an event that happened even earlier, using the
past perfect allows you to convey the sequence of the
events.
• Example: We were relieved that Tootles used washable
paint. We were relieved that Tootles had used washable
paint.
Structure. Affirmative Sentences

Auxillery Verb in the

subject verb past Complement
(had) participe

Examples:

 She had prepared our dinner

 They had studied English before they went to London
 John had gone out when I arrived in the office
 I had saved my document before the computer crashed
Negative Sentences

Auxillery Verb in
subject verb Not past complement
(had) participe

Examples:

 we had not studied english

 I had not eaten at that restaurant before
today
 They had not studied English before
they went to London.
Interrogative Sentences

Auxilliary Verb in past

subject complement
verb (had) participe

Examples:

 Had they studied English

before they went to London?
 Had I come?
 Had you eaten?
 Had she gone?
Uses
1. Completed Action Before Something in the
Past

The past perfect expresses the idea that something

occurred before another action in the past. It can also show
that something happened before a specific time in the past.
Examples:

 I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to

Kauai.
 She only understood the movie because she had
read the book.
 Marcela had never been to an opera before last night.
 I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet.
2. Duration Before Something in the Past (Non-
Continuous Verbs)

With non-continuous verbs and some non-continuous uses

of mixed verbs, we use the past perfect to show that
something started in the past and continued up until
another action in the past.
Examples:

 We had had that car for ten years before it broke down.
 By the time Alex finished his studies, he had been in
London for over eight years.
 They felt bad about selling the house because they had
owned it for more than forty years.