A. Study this example situation:
Sarah and Paul went to the same party last week, but they didn’t see each other. Paul left the party at 10.30 and Sarah arrived at 11 o’clock.
So when Sarah arrived at the party, Paul wasn’t there.
He had gone home.
had gone is the past perfect:
| I / we / they / you / he / she / it | had |
(= I'd etc.) (= he'd etc.) |
gone seen finished etc. |
B. Compare present perfect (have seen etc.) and past perfect (had seen etc.):
| Present Perfect | Past Perfect |
| 1. Who is that woman? I’ve seen her before, but I can’t remember where. | 1. I wasn’t sure who she was. I’d seen her before, but I couldn’t remember where. |
| 2. We aren’t hungry. We’ve just had lunch. | 2. We weren’t hungry. We’d just had lunch. |
| 3. The house is dirty. They haven’t cleaned it for weeks. | 3. The house was dirty. They hadn’t cleaned it for weeks. |
C. Compare past simple (left, was etc.) and past perfect (had left, had been etc.):
| Past Simple | Past Perfect |
|
A: Was Tom there when you arrived? A. Kate wasn’t at home when I phoned.
|
A. Was Tom there when you arrived? And A. Kate had just got home when I phoned. |
Let's practice below!
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
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Total score is 2 out of 8 (25%)
B1-B2 Grammar : Past Perfect (I Had Done)
Choose the correct word.