Past Perfect Tense, Definition and Examples

English Past Perfect Tense, Definition and Examples

Past Perfect Tense

When we construct a sentence in the past, we may want to talk about the events that happened in the past. In addition, it is possible to talk about our plans for the past. We need to use a different structure in the sentences in which we want to add such complex time meanings. In general, this structure is called past perfect tense. This tense structure makes us feel more free when talking about the past. In addition, this dense and complex structure is frequently used in novels.

Past perfect tense is often used to create a sequence relationship between two different events that occurred in the past. In this way, which can be more easily understood which is experienced before and after. In today’s article, we will see the positive and negative sentence setup with past perfect tense in detail. Let’s start.

Positive Sentence

When constructing a positive sentence, we need to use the third form of verbs. We used the second forms of verbs when constructing sentences in past simple tense. But when we talk about an event in the more distant past than in the past, we need to change our verb style and use the third form of the verb. In general, let’s examine the sentence structure together:

• Subject + had + V3 or V + ed

Let us imagine that we experienced one of two different events in the past, one after the other. In this case, we will need to express one or both of these verbs using past perfect tense. Here are some examples:

1. I had washed the dishes before you came here.
2. You had no idea about the girl when they asked.
3. He had gone when she became ill.

Negative Sentence

If you want to make a negative sentence within the past continious tense sentence structure, simply add a note to the positive sentence structure. Therefore, it is easy to learn to use negative sentences in past continious tense. In such sentences, we may need to arrange two different events in the past again.

1. I had not washed the dishes until you came the home.
2. You had not said that there is a problem before they said.
3. She had not arranged a meeting with them before they asked for.

You can multify these sentences.

Here is Detailed Past Perfect Tenses Example Sentences;

• I went there after I had completed the task.
• She had come late to the school.
• They had not been married when I was born.
• Until he went to England, he had not (hadn’t) spoken English.
• You had not studied hard.
• She had not done her homework so she was sad.
• He had not lived in Florida.
• They had not gone out when you called.
• She had done her homework so she was happy.
• Had they been married when I was born?
• Had he spoken English until he went to England?
• Had she done her homework?
• Had he lived in Florida?
• Had they gone out when you called?
• Had the woman cried till the morning?
• He had lived in Florida for ten years before he moved to California.
• They had gone out when you called.
• By the time we came, she had finished the project.