§ 1. The Formation of the Past Perfect

1. We form the Past Perfect by means of the auxiliary verb TO HAVE in the Past Indefinite (had) and Participle II of the main verb.

HAD + PARTICIPLE II (Ved/V3)

E.g. I had written the letter by that time.

She said she had already translated the text.

In informal English we can also use short affirmative forms.

Full affirmative forms	Short affirmative forms
I (he, she, it, we, you, they) had worked.	I (he, she, it, we, you, they)’d worked.

2. In negative sentences we place the negative particle NOT after the auxiliary verb TO HAVE (had). In informal English we use short negative forms.

E.g. I had not/hadn’t/’d not written the letter yet.

She had not/hadn’t/’d not translated the text yet.

Full negative forms	Short negative forms
I (he, she it, we, you, they) had not worked.	I (he, she, it, we, you, they) hadn’t worked.

3. In interrogative sentences (questions) we place the auxiliary verb TO HAVE (had) before the subject.

E.g. Had I written the letter by that time?

Had she already translated the text?

4. In negative-interrogative sentences (negative questions) we place the auxiliary verb TO HAVE (had) before the subject and the negative particle NOT after the subject. In informal English we place short negative forms before the subject.

E.g. Had I not/Hadn’t I written the letter by that time?

Had she not/Hadn’t she translated the text yet?

Full negative-interrogative forms	Short negative-interrogative forms
Had I (he, she, it, we, you, they) not worked?	Hadn’t I (he, she, it, we, you, they) worked?

§ 2. The Use of the Past Perfect

We use the Past Perfect to denote:

1. An action completed before a definite moment in the past

• with the adverbials: just, already, yet, ever, never, before, by that time, by 5 o’clock (yesterday), by the end of the year, by yesterday evening, the day before, until then, etc.

E.g. Tom had already done his homework by that time.

We had translated the article by 5 o’clock yesterday.

The completion of the action can be understood from the context or can be expressed by another past action.

E.g. They had written the essay when their teacher came back.

2. An action prior to another past action

E.g. During their conversation, she realized that she had met Mr. Johnson before.

‘As I was walking to the station it began to rain. Fortunately, I had taken my umbrella.’

NOTE 1. The Past Perfect can also be used in adverbial clauses of time introduced by the conjunctions when, after, as soon as, till/until, before to express an action which happened before another past action.

E.g. We went to bed as soon as our guests had left.

To emphasize that the action of the principal clause is the result of the action of the subordinate clause we prefer the Past Indefinite for both.

E.g. She become famous after she appeared on TV.

(She appeared on TV (1) and as a result became famous (2).)

NOTE 2. The Past Perfect is often used with the conjunctions hardly…when/before, scarcely…when/before, no sooner…than to suggest that one action happened very soon after another.

E.g. He had hardly closed his eyes when the phone rang.

The mother had scarcely entered the house before the children began screaming.

I had no sooner locked the door than somebody knocked.

In a formal or literary style, for the sake of emphasis, inverted word order is possible.

E.g. Hardly had he closed his eyes when the phone rang.