In this lesson I am going to teach you how to

form a past perfect

and when to use

a past perfect.

But before we get started it's good to know that in the English language we have

regular,

and irregular verbs.

It is advisable that you study the most commonly used irregular verbs.

Now let's get started.

Take a look at these sentences:

I had painted the door yellow.

They had paid for dinner themselves.

Both these sentences are in the past perfect tense.

How do we form a past perfect?

For the regular verbs we use to auxiliary verb to have

in it's past form which is had,

and the past participle.

The past participle can be made by adding -ed to the base form of the verb.

For example I had kissed her.

You had worked late.

He had cleared the table.

She had placed it on the floor.

It had snowed.

For the plural forms we do the same.

We had walked to school.

You had watched the tennis match and they had marked the tests. they have marked the tests

No we need to pay extra attention attention to verbs that end in an -e, such as live,

close and wipe.

The verbs use had

and a part participle

but,

when forming a past particple we only use the base form of the verb and add a 'd'.

For example:

I had lived there

He had closed the window

They had wiped the floor.

We also need to pay

extra attention to verbs that end a - y,

especially those preceded by consonant such as spy and study.

Here the 'y' becomes an 'i'

For example:

He had spied on his neighbours

and we had studied hard.

Now let's have a look at the past perfect for the irregular verbs,

again we use the past simple form of

to have

and a past participle

but here the past participle has a unique past perfect form.

For example:

I had built that shed with my own two hands.

The infinitive form of the verb is 'to build.'

She had bought some flowers at the market. The infinitve form of the verb is 'to buy.'

We had run the marathon.

The infinitive form of the verb is 'to run.'

Let's have a look at the past perfect in questions for the regular forms

again we use the past simple form of the auxiliary verb to have

and the past participle.

Again

the base form of the verb and 'ed.'

Had she talked to him?

Had you kicked the ball?

Had they worked on a farm?

For the irregular verbs,

we also use

the auxiliary verb to have, so had

and the past participle and again the unique past perfect form

Had she quit her job?

Had you driven her car?

Had they paid for dinner?

Let's have alook at the past perfect in negations.

First the regular verbs,

we use had

plus not contracting it into hadn't

and the past participle

which again is made by adding 'ed' to the base form of the verb.

I hadn't listened to the news.

It hadn't rained since Friday. They hadn't closed the window.

For the irregular verbs we use had and not contracting it into hadn't,

and the past participle

but again here

the past participle has a unique past perfect form.

For example

She hadn't quit her job.

You hadn't ever driven her car

and they hadn't paid for dinner.

Now let's have a look at when we use a past perfect.

We use a past perfect for things that happened in the past but before something

else in the past. So we use it to co-ordinate the past. We have two things

happening in the past perfect

and the past perfect happened

at the furthest point in the past. For example I had brushed my teeth before I went to bed.

So first I brushed my teeth and then I went to bed and both these things happened

in the past.

Another example is: They decided to buy a car after the old one had broken down.

So first their old car broke down

and then they decided to buy a car.

I thank you for your attention. For regular updates please subscribe to

youtube.com/englishgrammarspot

or go to www.englishgrammarspot.com