Past Perfect

 

Study this example situation.

 

I went to a party last week. Tom went to the party too. Tom went home at 10:30. So, when I arrived at 11:00, Tom wasn't there.

When I arrived at the party, Tom wasn't there.

He had gone home.

This is the past perfect (simple) tense.

 

I / he / she (etc.) had (= I'd / he'd / she'd, etc.) gone

I / he / she (etc.) hadn't gone

had you / he / she (etc.) gone?

 

We form the past perfect with had + the past participle (gone / opened / written, etc.).

 

Sometimes we talk about something that happened in the past.

• I arrived at the party.

We use the past perfect to say that something had already happened before this time.

• When I arrived at the party, Tom had already gone home.

Here are some more examples.

• When I got home, I found that someone had broken into my apartment and had stolen my fur coat.
• George didn't want to come to the movies with us because he had already seen the film twice.
• It was my first time in an airplane. I was very nervous because I had never flown before.

The past perfect (I had done) is the past of the present perfect (I have done). Compare these situations.

Present                                                Past

I'm not hungry. I've just had lunch. |      I wasn't hungry. I'd just had lunch.

The house is dirty. We haven't      |      The house was dirty. We hadn't

cleaned it for weeks.                     |      cleaned it for weeks.

Compare the past perfect and the simple past (I did).

 

"Was Tom there when you arrived?" "No, he had already gone home."

but: "Was Tom there when you arrived? "Yes, but he went home soon afterward."

Ann wasn't home when I called her. She was at work.

but: Ann had just gotten home when I called her. She had been at work.