Past Perfect Tense In English Grammar (What It Means And How To Use It) | Advanced English Grammar

I had met her before you introduced her to me.  What does this mean? What am I talking about here? Past present or future? Which event happened first?  Let’s find out. 

 

What’s up guys? My name is Shane and today we are talking about the past perfect tense. 

 

If you haven’t seen this video on the present perfect tense, I suggest you go watch that right now.  T

 

he past perfect tense causes English learners a lot of confusing but it’s actually quite simple once you understand the meaning.

 

We normally use the past perfect tense to talk about one event which happened before another in the past. We use it to show that one thing happened before another thing in the past.

 

But don’t worry if the past perfect is confusing for you because by the end of the lesson, you will understand what it means and how to use it. And make sure you watch until the end of the video because there will be a quiz to test your understanding.   Okay, let’s get started! 

 

How to make past perfect

I had met her before you introduced her to me.  This is a past perfect sentence. 

 

So how do we make it? What’s the structure here? 

 

Well we have I, the subject. Then we have had. And then we have a past participle – met. Pretty easy, right?

 

What about if the subject is he, she, they, do we have to change had or the verb?  No we don’t. 

 

We can say he had met.  She had met. It had met. They had met.  John and Paul had met.

 

Now just a little pronunciation tip because if you’ve been watching my channel for a long time, you know that I love pronunciation and I think it’s very important to learn if you want to speak English like a native speaker. 

 

Most native speakers don’t say I had.  They will say I’d.

 

He had. No. He’d.

 

She had. No. She’d.

 

They had? They’d.

 

We had. We’d.

 

So just remember, normally when you’re using the past perfect, we normally don’t say the word had, we say I’d, she’d, he’d, they’d. 

 

Okay and what about negatives?  I had met her.  How do we turn this into a negative?  We can say I had not met her.  I had not met her. 

 

And this is the same with all subjects. He had not met her. They had not met her. The dogs had not met her.

 

And another little pronunciation tip, normally we don’t say not. We just say hadn’t. He hadn’t met. They hadn’t met her.  John hadn’t met her. The dogs hadn’t met her. 

 

What about if we want to make a question with the present perfect?  For example: he had met her.  We can say: had he met her?  So we just swap the subject and the had around.

 

He had becomes had he. 

 

Same with all subjects. She had met her. Had she met her?

 

They had met her.  Had they met her? 

 

What does past perfect mean?

I had met her before you introduced her to me. What are we talking about here? Past, present or future? Past.  When did I meet her? In the past. 

 

When did you introduce her to me? In the past but what happened first? Did I meet her first or did you introduce her to me first? I met her first. 

 

So this is one of the main uses of the past perfect. We use it to talk about two things that happened in the past but we want to show that one thing happened first. We want to emphasize one thing happened first.

 

Another example could be:  she stayed up all night because she had received bad news. So this is saying that she received bad news first. This is the first event in the past.

 

And then second, she stayed up all night. This is the second event. We want to emphasize that the bad news happened first and then she couldn’t sleep. She stayed up all night. 

 

Let’s look at another use of the past perfect. She had established her company before 2015.  She had established her company before 2015.  

 

What are we talking about here? Past, present or future? The past.

 

Do we know when she established her company? Yes, it was sometime before 2015.

 

So this is another use of the past perfect. We can use it to show that one event happened before another event at a specific time.

 

So the specific time is 2015 and then we are showing that she had established her company before 2015.

 

And the third use of the past perfect.  His mother asked us if we had studied for the exam.   His mother asked us if we had studied for the exam.   

 

When did his mother ask us? In the past. 

 

Is she asking did they study in the past, present or the future? She is asking about the past.

 

So again, we are using the past perfect to talk about two events that happened in the past. But this time we are using it for reported speech. We are telling someone what someone else told us.

 

And what tense do you think the original question was in?  The mother probably said: have you studied for your exam yet? 

 

And normally, when we have a present perfect statement or question and we want to turn it into reported speech, we normally use the past perfect.

 

Another example. She said she had hurt leg.  She said she had hurt leg. 

 

So again, we are using the past perfect to talk about two events in the past but we are using it for reported speech. We are using it to say what someone said in the past.

 

So what do you think the original statement was? She probably said: I have hurt my leg. I have hurt my leg. 

 

So again, normally when we have a present perfect sentence, we use past perfect to talk about reported speech. 

 

Another use of the past perfect. She had just left when I got home.  She had just left when I got home.  When did she leave? Past, present or future? The past. 

 

When did I get home?  Past, present or future?  Past.

 

So again, we are talking about two events in the past. But do you think that she left a long time before I got home or only a short time before I got home?  She left a short time before I got home. 

 

So this is another use of the past perfect. We can use it to say that something else happened a short time before something else. 

 

Another example could be: the bus had just left when we got to the bus stop.  The bus had just left when we got to the bus stop.

 

Did the bus leave a long time before we got to the bus stop?  No. it left a very short time before we get there. 

 

So just remember, you can also use the past perfect to say that one thing happened a short time before another thing in the past.

 

She wished she had seen her friend.  She wished she had seen her friend.  Did she see her friend?  No. 

 

Is she happy that she didn’t see her friend in the past? No she isn’t. 

 

So this is another use of the past perfect. We can use it when we are dissatisfied with the past. When we are not happy with the past.  When you wish that you could change the past.

 

Another example could be: I wish I had told her the truth. I wish I had told her the truth. This means that I didn’t tell her the truth but I wish I could change the past and tell her the truth. 

 

Quiz

Okay, now we have learned the basics of the past simple tense in English.  So let’s have a little quiz to test your understanding.

 

I will show you some words and I want you to make a past perfect sentence. Number one. Plane leave before I go airport.  Plane leave before I go airport. 

 

And the correct is: the plane had left before I got to the airport.  The plane had left before I got to the airport.  Remember, with past perfect, we use had and the past participle.

 

Number two. You study English before move America?  Question.  You study English before move America?  Question. 

 

And the correct is: had you studied English before you moved to America?  Remember, with the question we just swap the subject and had around. So the positive statement would be you had.  So the question would be had you. 

 

Number three. Boy said wish not do that. Boy said wish not do that. 

 

And the correct answer is: the boy said he wished he hadn’t done that. He wished he hadn’t done that. Remember, with the past perfect we need that had and then we need a past participle. And the past participle of do is done.  Hadn’t done that. 

 

And that is the end of the lesson today.  Now you know the basics of the past perfect tense in English. But just remember, these are the basics and there are always exceptions to the rules so if you have any questions, please comment them down below. 

 

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