Structure: how do we make the past perfect tense?

How do we make the Past Perfect Tense?

The structure of the past perfect tense is:

subject	+	auxiliary verb HAVE	+	main verb
		conjugated in simple past tense		past participle
		had		V3

For negative sentences in the past perfect tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the past perfect tense:

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I	had		finished	my work.
+	You	had		stopped	before me.
-	She	had	not	gone	to school.
-	We	had	not	left.
?	Had	you		arrived?
?	Had	they		eaten	dinner?

When speaking with the past perfect tense, we often contract the subject and auxiliary verb:

I had	I'd
you had	you'd
he had she had it had	he'd she'd it'd
we had	we'd
they had	they'd

 

The 'd contraction is also used for the auxiliary verb would. For example, we'd can mean:

• We had
  or
• We would

But usually the main verb is in a different form, for example:

• We had arrived (past participle)
• We would arrive (base)

It is always clear from the context.

How do we use the past perfect tense? »