Past perfect · Grade 5
The past perfect is had + the past participle: had started, had gone. We use it when we are already talking about the past and want to show that one action happened before another. When we arrived, the film had started.: the film started first.
Key facts
- Form: had + past participle for every subject: I had eaten, she had left, they had finished.
- The earlier action takes the past perfect; the later one takes the past simple: The streets were wet because it had rained.
- Useful words: by the time, already, never … before, because, after.
- Negative: hadn't + past participle: We hadn't eaten all day. Question: Had you finished?
- Irregular participles: go → gone, eat → eaten, take → taken, write → written, leave → left.