When to use the past perfect? Alex will explain and leave you with some tips and examples.
🔙 Past Perfect
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▶️ Test
Which of these sentences is in the past perfect❓
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What does it mean❓
🗣️ Meaning
We use the past perfect to talk about:
an action in the past that happened BEFORE another action in the past:
Example → The thief had escaped when the police arrived.
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What happened first❓
An action in the past that happened by a certain point in time:
Example → We'd finished all the water before we were halfway up the mountain.
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Did we have any water left when we reached the peak of the mountain❓
📝 Form
Example → Sadly, the author died before she had finished writing her last book.
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How do you form the past perfect❓
🤔 When do you use it? Tips
Whenever you want to talk about two actions that happened at different times in the past.
⚠️ What’s the difference with the simple past.
👉 we use the simple past to talk about events, states or habits at definite times in the past.
⚠️ So if the action took place a very long time ago, can I use the past perfect even if there’s only one action? Or do I use the simple past?
The answer is: Use the simple past!
With specific adverbs:
- already → I called his office but he'd already left.
- still → We still hadn’t finished cleaning when the guests arrived.
- just → I went to visit her when she'd just moved to Berlin.
- ever → Had you ever visited London before moving there?
- never → No, I had never visited London before moving there.
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I looked at the photo and realized that I ___ that man before.
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This is the oldest building in the town. It ___ over 200 years ago.
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She didn't feel like another coffee, she ___ one.
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I asked Sara if she wanted to go for a walk, but she still ___ her homework.
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Dinosaurs ___ hundreds of millions of years ago.
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