The Past Perfect Tense Rosa Flores Gutiérrez The "past perfect" refers to a time before the recent past. It is used to indicate that one event occurred before another in the past. For example, Event A is the one that occurred first and Event B occurred next, it is the most recent: Event A I had saved my document Event B before the computer crashed. 1. We form affirmative statements with a subject + had + a past participle. Example 1: I had seen that play before, so I didn't want to go again. 2. We form negative statements with a subject + had not + a past participle. Example 2: She didn't do well on the quiz because she hadn't studied for it. We form yes/no questions in the past perfect tense with had + a subject + a past participle. In short answers, we use a pronoun subject + had or had not. We usually contract negative short answers. Example A: Had he finished by 2:00? B: Yes, he had. / No, he hadn't. Thanks
