The Past Perfect Tense
The Past Perfect Tense is a verb tense used to talk about actions that were completed before some point in the past.
Structure: Subject + had + Past participle (v3)
Here's how to make the positive:
- I had been (I'd been)
- You had gone (You'd gone)
- She had met (She'd met)
- He had played (He'd played)
- It had rained (It'd rained)
- We had bought (We'd bought)
- They had studied (They'd studied)
To make the negative, just add 'not':
- I had not been (I hadn't been)
- You had not gone (You hadn't gone)
- She had not met (She hadn't met)
- He had not played (He hadn't played)
- It had not rained (It hadn't rained)
- We had not bought (We hadn't bought)
- They had not studied (They hadn't studied)
To make a 'yes / no' question, put 'had' before the subject:
- Had I come?
- Had you eaten?
- Had she gone?
- Had it rained?
- Had he studied?
- Had we met?
- Had they left?
To make 'wh' questions, put the question word at the beginning:
- When had I come?
- Why had you eaten?
- Where had she gone?
- When had it rained?
- Why had he studied?
- How had we met?
- When had they left?