Past Perfect Tense

1. Past Perfect Tense

2. Forms

• Affirmative: I had worked. He had worked
• Negative: I had not worked / I hadn’t worked. He had not worked /
He hadn’t worked.
• Question: Had you worked? Had he worked?

3. Usage:

• The basic meanings of the past perfect are ‘earlier past’ and
‘completed in the past’. A common use is to ‘go back’ when we are
already talking about the past, so as to make it clear that something
had already happened at the time we are talking about.
• I realized that we had met before.
• When I arrived at the party, Lucy had already gone home.

4. Unrealized hopes and wishes

• The Past Perfect can be used to express an unrealized
hope, wish, etc:
• I had hoped we would be able to leave tomorrow, but it’s
beginning to look difficult.
• He had intended to make a cake, but he ran out of time.