The past perfect tense of verbs, simple and continuous, are formed as follows:
Past Perfect Simple |
AFFIRMATIVE |
NEGATIVE |
INTERROGATIVE |
|
Long Form |
Contracted Form |
|
I had done |
I had not done |
I hadn't done |
Had I done? |
You had done |
You had not done |
You hadn't done |
Had you done? |
He/she/it had done |
He/she/it had not done |
He/she/it hadn't done |
Had he/she/it done? |
We had done |
We had not done |
We hadn't done |
Had we done ? |
You had done |
You had not done |
You hadn't done |
Had you done? |
They had done |
They had not done |
They hadn't done |
Had they done? |
Past Perfect Continuous |
AFFIRMATIVE |
NEGATIVE |
INTERROGATIVE |
|
Long Form |
Contracted Form |
|
I had been doing |
I had not been doing |
I hadn't been doing |
Had I been doing? |
You had been doing |
You had not been doing |
You hadn't been doing |
Had you been doing? |
He/she/it had been doing |
He/she/it had not been doing |
He/she/it hadn't been doing |
Had he/she/it been doing? |
We had been doing |
We had not been doing |
We hadn't been doing |
Had we been doing ? |
You had been doing |
You had not been doing |
You hadn't been doing |
Had you been doing? |
They had been doing |
They had not been doing |
They hadn't been doing |
Had they been doing? |
- The past perfect simple is used to refer to finished actions or completed events which took place before a specific time in the past.
- Yesterday, between 4pm and 6pm, Paul played a game of tennis with Tom.
His mother arrived at 6 pm. The game was over.
When his mother arrived, Paul had finished the game.
- When Tom got to the station the train had already left.
- The boy was cold because he had forgotten his jacket.
- Laura had visited Tokyo several times before she went to work there.
- The past perfect continuous is used to refer to a past continuous action, an action that was in progress up to a particular time in the past.
- Before his mother arrived, Paul had been playing tennis with Tom.
- I had been searching for a long time before I found the book under the sofa.
- Eva was tired at lunch-time because she had been cleaning the house all morning.
- Bill had been working in the company for 6 months before he met the boss.