Basic Grammar Step by Step Second Edition

Mary W. Ng

Chapter 32 The Past Perfect Tense

The tense of a verb shows the time of an action. For a summary of tense formation, see Appendix A on page 301.

We use the past perfect tense to talk about an action that was completed before another action in the past.

We took a break after we had painted the kitchen.

They had sold their house before they moved to Paris.

When she had said good-bye, she boarded the plane.

Table 32.1 shows the past simple tense of the auxiliary verb have. We use the past simple tense of the auxiliary verb have with the

Table 32.1: Past Simple Tense of the Auxiliary Verb have

Person	Number	Pronoun	Past Simple Tense
First	Singular	I	had
First	Plural	we	had
Second	Singular	you	had
Second	Plural	you	had
Third	Singular	he	had
		she	had
		it	had
	Plural	they	had

past participle of the main verb to form the past perfect tense. We use had with all nouns and personal pronouns.

Bruce had run.

I had run.

You had run.

Exercise Use the past perfect tense to complete these sentences.

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