
Look at these examples to see how the past perfect is used.
He couldn't make a sandwich because he'd forgotten to buy bread.
The hotel was full, so I was glad that we'd booked in advance.
My new job wasn't exactly what I’d expected.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Time up to a point in the past
We use the past perfect simple (had + past participle) to talk about time up to a certain point in the past.
She'd published her first poem by the time she was eight.
We'd finished all the water before we were halfway up the mountain.
Had the parcel arrived when you called yesterday?
Past perfect for the earlier of two past actions
We can use the past perfect to show the order of two past events. The past perfect shows the earlier action and the past simple shows the later action.
When the police arrived, the thief had escaped.
It doesn't matter in which order we say the two events. The following sentence has the same meaning.
The thief had escaped when the police arrived.
Note that if there's only a single event, we don't use the past perfect, even if it happened a long time ago.
The Romans spoke Latin. (NOT
The Romans had spoken Latin.)
Past perfect with before
We can also use the past perfect followed by before to show that an action was not done or was incomplete when the past simple action happened.
They left before I'd spoken to them.
Sadly, the author died before he'd finished the series.
Adverbs
We often use the adverbs already (= 'before the specified time'), still (= as previously), just (= 'a very short time before the specified time'), ever (= 'at any time before the specified time') or never (= 'at no time before the specified time') with the past perfect.
I called his office but he'd already left.
It still hadn't rained at the beginning of May.
I went to visit her when she'd just moved to Berlin.
It was the most beautiful photo I'd ever seen.
Had you ever visited London when you moved there?
I'd never met anyone from California before I met Jim.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello Aniyanmon
In most situations, the use of the present perfect here indicates that he is still a policeman at the moment of speaking. There are situations where this may not be true, but that is dependent on the context.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Aniyanmon,
Both sentences are correct. Is there is a question about presence or lack of it; Do you have identifies ownership. For example, if I say there is a car outside my house then it is probably not my car, but if I say I have a car outside my house then the listener will understand that I am the owner.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Aniyanmon
Sentence 1 uses a second conditional structure and talks about an imaginary situation in the present or future. Sentence 2 uses a third conditional structure and talks about an imaginary past situation, i.e. a situation in the past that did not happen, but could have happened if the condition had been met.
You can see more about conditionals on our Conditionals 1 and 2 pages.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Aniyanmon,
The sentence is correct.
We can use might have to describe something that was a possibility in the past. Your sentence means that there was a chance of not passing but in the end John was successful.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Aniyanmon
I hope you don't mind me answering for Peter. In this case, it would not be correct to say 'I have joined the department in 2003' because the action of joining the department happened in the past and only in the past. 'join' refers only to the first moment that you become part of a group and isn't used afterwards to refer to being a part of it.
Does that make sense?
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Aniyanmon,
I think the past simple is required here rather than the past perfect:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Aniyanmon
Yes, the present perfect is appropriate and correct in this context, i.e. a time period that began in the past (January 2018) and which includes the present moment.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Aniyanmon,
I'm afraid we don't check texts or correct them. We have far too many users and are too small a team to offer such a service!
I'm not sure what you mean by I had joined duty on... but I imagine you are talking about beginning work there. In that case we would probably say
I took up my post there on...
However, it is hard to be sure without knowing the full situation.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello AminulIslam
It depends on the context, but probably the first one is better.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello AminulIslam.,
Both forms are possible in this context.
The past simple (was paved) here describes a feature of the path: the path was paved, the path was straight, the path was long etc.
The past perfect (had been paved) suggests a change has occurred: the path was not paved at one point and then had become paved.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello shubhamgupta
In this context, 'have had (to process)' is in the present perfect and 'had (to process)' would be in the past simple. There is a difference in meaning between the two. If you use the present perfect, the time period began three or four days ago and includes today, at least up until the present moment. If you use the past simple, the time period began three or four days ago and doesn't include the present moment.
Without knowing the context or the writer's intended meaning, I couldn't say which is correct, though I can say it would more common to use the present perfect with the time adverbial 'in the last three or four days'. If a past simple were to be used here, it'd be more common to say something like 'from Wednesday to Friday' or something more specific, as saying 'in the last three or four days' is understood to include the moment of speaking.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Mehrdad87,
Past perfect forms describe an action in the past which happened before another action in the past, showing a connection between the two events of some kind.
Past continuous verbs describe an action in the past which was in progress around a point in time (or another action) in the past.
If you have a particular example in mind we'll be happy to comment on it for you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Mehrdad87,
Most pages on LearnEnglish have comments sections but some do not. If you want to ask a question then use another page – try to find a page on a similar topic or language point so other users interested in the subject will see it.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello shubhamgupta,
I had a car tells us about a specific time, and there must be a reference to that time either in the sentence (I had a car in 2005 / I had a car when I was a student) or implied in the context.
I have had a car does not refer to a specific time (and it would be ungrammatical to provide one), but rather tells us about your life as a whole.
We would say I told you he woud take the girl when either the girl has already been taken or we have some information to tell us that it is certain.
We would say I told you he will take the girl when we still do not know if it will happen or not, and are reminding the other person of our prediction.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sridhar reddy
Thanks for your comment! We hope you learn a lot here and look forward to seeing you around!
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello D8023,
We have a number of pages dealing with these verb forms in our main grammar section and in our Intermediate grammar section.
It's not really possible for us to provide long explanations in the comments sections, but if you have a particular example which you find confusing then we'll be happy to try to clarify it for you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi D8023
In this case, only 'I had worked' (había trabajado) is the correct form (not 'have worked' -- he trabajado). The sequence of events is this: 1. you started working in the factory, 2. the factory closed, 3. you were sorry. By saying 'had worked', it's clear that your working there was before the factory closed and you were sorry.
If you said 'have worked', it suggests that you are still working there now. This doesn't make sense since earlier you said the factory already closed. If you said Estuve triste cuando la fábrica cerró. He trabajado ahí desde que dejé el colegio it would sound strange, right? It would sound the same way in English.
The present perfect always refers to or touches the present time in some way -- its reference point is the present--whereas the past perfect has a past time as a reference point.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello D8023,
The past perfect is correct there, though the sentence has a small error You could say:
or
The past perfect is used because the action (waiting) began in the past and continued up to another time in the past (the bus's arrival).
You could say the same thing about an action which began in the past (waiting) and continued up to the present (the moment of speaking). In this case you would use the present perfect:
or
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello shubhamgupta,
It's a little hard to tell without knowing the exact situation, but I think the past perfect or past simple could be used here. The woman is talking about a time in the past (not having the phone) and you are asking about something earlier which is related to this (giving the phone to her roommate)
My phone was not with me, it was with my roommate.
Why had you even given your phone to her? / Why did you even give your phone to her?
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team