UNIT
6
Past perfect simple Affirmative
Regular verbs:
I had worked / You had lived / She had attended / They had played.
Irregular verbs:
I had been / You had spoken / He had written / We had run / They had had.
Negative
I hadn’t studied / It hadn’t rained / We hadn’t stopped / You hadn’t met / They hadn’t put.
Interrogative
Had I enjoyed / Had you known / Had she left / Had you read / Had they learnt …?
Short answers
Yes, I / you / he / she / it / we / you / they had. No, I / you / he / she / it / we / you / they hadn’t.
USAGE AND EXAMPLES • The Past Perfect Simple is normally used in sentences where the main tense is Past simple but we take a flashback to something that happened before that event. In this case, the order of the tenses in the sentence does not usually reflect the real order of the events. 1) Past perfect simple
2) Past simple
NOW
When we got to the station our train had left, so we had to wait for another one. (the train left BEFORE their arrival, but the information comes in the second part of the sentence) • It also expresses duration of a past situation from a certain moment or a certain period of time up to a more recent past moment. • It can also express how many times something occurred before another past event. • In general it is the past form of Present perfect simple (have done ➝ had done). Study the examples: Past perfect simple
➝ ➝ ➝
Past simple
NOW
We had been there for three hours when they arrived. She hadn’t seen Rob since his wedding when she heard from him again. • The Present perfect simple is often used with the expression by the time, which has a similar meaning to when. By the time we arrived, the party had started.
1
Put the verbs in brackets in the Past simple or Past perfect simple.
1 We _______________ (not / be) able to get in because we _______________ (lose) the key. 2 Fortunately when I _______________ (get) to the cinema the film _______________ (not start) yet. 3 How long _______________ (you / have) the car when you _______________ (have) the accident? 4 We _______________ (not / pass) the test because
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we _______________ (not / study) enough. 5 That was the first time Sally _______________ (see) him but she _______________ (fall) in love with him immediately. 6 When they _______________ (find) our luggage we _______________ (be) in Paris for a week.
