English – Grammar: Past Perfect Tense – 2nd Year Middle School – Algeria

Grammar: Past Perfect Tense

Lesson Objectives:

• Form the past perfect tense correctly.
• Use it to show which action happened first.
• Distinguish past perfect from past simple.

Formation:

The past perfect is formed with HAD + past participle. It is the same for all subjects. Examples: I had finished, you had seen, he had gone, we had written, they had arrived.

When to Use the Past Perfect:

We use the past perfect to show that one action happened before another action in the past. It is often used with time expressions like: before, after, when, by the time, already, just, never, etc.

Examples:

• When I arrived, the train had already left. (The train left BEFORE I arrived).
• She had finished her homework before she watched TV.
• He had never seen such a beautiful sunset.

Practice:

1. Complete: (When we arrived, the movie __ (already, start)).
2. Complete: (She __ (not, eat) before she went out).
3. Write 3 sentences using the past perfect.

Useful Links:

See also: Past Simple Tense and Present Perfect Tense.