Introduction
The
past perfect tense is often used in English when we are relating two events
which happened in the past. It helps to show which event happened first. This
page will explain the rules for forming and using the tense.
The perfect is a verb form
found in certain languages. The exact meaning of the term differs depending on
which language is being described, but in principle the perfect is used to
indicate that an action or circumstance occurred earlier than the present time
(or other time under consideration), often focusing attention on the resulting
state rather than on the occurrence itself. An example of a perfect
construction is given by the English sentence I have made dinner:
although this gives information about a prior action (my making the dinner),
the focus is likely to be on the present consequences of that action (the fact
that the dinner is now ready). The word perfect in this sense
means "completed" (from Latin perfectus, which is the
perfect passive participle of the verbperficere "to
finish").
In traditional grammar, particularly with regard to Latin and Ancient Greek, the
term perfect is used for a particular conjugated verb form,
traditionally considered to be one of the tenses, although in modern analysis it is seen as combining
the expression of tense (time reference) with aspectual information.
The Greek perfect contrasted with the aorist and
the imperfect, and thus referred to completed events with present
consequences like the English "have/has (done something)". The Latin
perfect contrasted only with the imperfect (used for past incomplete actions or
states), and was thus used to mean both "have/has done something" and
"did something" (the preterite use). Other related forms are the pluperfect, denoting an event prior to a past time of
reference, and thefuture perfect, for an
event prior to a future time of reference.
In modern grammars, particularly of English, the term perfect is often used to
denote an aspect independent of tense – the form corresponding to the
traditional perfect (I have done) is then called the present perfect, while that corresponding to the pluperfect (I
had done) is called the past perfect (there are also additional forms such
as future perfect, conditional perfect and
so on). The formation of perfect constructions as found in English, using forms
of an auxiliary verb (have)
together with the past participle of
the main verb, is paralleled in a number of other modern European languages.
Perfect can be denoted by the glossing abbreviation perf or prf. It should not be confused with
the perfective aspect, which refers to the viewing of an
action as a single (but not necessarily prior) event. To avoid confusion with
the perfective, the perfect is occasionally called the retrospective (ret).
Forming the past perfect tense
This
tense is formed using two components: the verb HAVE (in the past tense), and
the past participle form of a verb. With a regular verb the past participle
ends with -ED (just like the simple past). Irregular verbs have a special past
participle form that you have to learn. Here are the rules, using the regular
verb "arrive" and the irregular verb "eat":
|
Subject
|
HAVE
|
Past
Participle
|
Contraction
|
|
I
|
had
|
arrived.
eaten. |
I'd
arrived.
I'd eaten. |
|
You
|
had
|
arrived.
eaten. |
You'd
arrived.
You'd eaten. |
|
He
|
had
|
arrived.
eaten. |
He'd
arrived.
He'd eaten. |
|
She
|
had
|
arrived.
eaten. |
She'd
arrived.
She'd eaten. |
|
It
|
had
|
arrived.
eaten. |
It'd
arrived.
It'd eaten. |
|
We
|
had
|
arrived.
eaten. |
We'd
arrived.
We'd eaten. |
|
They
|
had
|
arrived.
eaten. |
They'd
arrived.
They'd eaten. |
Using the Past Perfect
The
past perfect is used to show you which of two events happened first. Imagine
that two things happened in the past:
|
Past
Event
|
I
went to see the movie.
|
|
Past
Event
|
We
discussed the movie in class.
|
Here,
we don't know which order the events happened in. That may be important --
perhaps I went to see the movie after the discussion, or maybe I saw the movie
before the discussion. There are many ways to make this sequence clear, and the
past perfect is one of them. This is how we do it:
|
I
went to see the movie. We had discussed the movie in class.
|
Here,
we know that the discussion took place first —
even though the sentence describing it comes afterwards. We discussed the
movie, and then I went to see it. This can be very useful when
you are telling a story or relating a sequence of events. At any point in your
story, you can jump back to a previous event, and your reader
will not be confused because the past perfect will make it clear that the event
happened previously.
Here
is another example:
|
Simple
Past |
I
wanted to live in a foreign country, so I applied for a job in Japan.
Judy lived in Japan, so I called her to find out more about
the culture and lifestyle there.
(Judy
was probably still living in Japan when I called her.)
|
|
Past
Perfect |
I
wanted to live in a foreign country, so I applied for a job in Japan.
Judy had lived in Japan, so I called her to find out more
about the culture and lifestyle there.
(Judy
no longer lived in Japan — she returned from there before I applied for the
job.)
|
Past Perfect
FORM
[had + past participle]
Examples:
·
You had studied English before you moved to
New York.
·
Had you studied English
before you moved to New York?
·
You had not studied English
before you moved to New York.
USE 1 Completed
Action Before Something in the Past
The Past Perfect expresses the idea that something occurred
before another action in the past. It can also show that something happened
before a specific time in the past.
Examples:
·
I had never seen such a
beautiful beach before I went to Kauai.
·
I did not have any money because I had lost my
wallet.
·
Tony knew Istanbul so well because he had visited the
city several times.
·
Had Susan
ever studied Thai before she moved to Thailand?
·
She only understood the movie because she had read the
book.
·
Kristine had never been to
an opera before last night.
·
We were not able to get a hotel room because we had
not booked in advance.
·
A: Had you ever visited the
U.S. before your trip in 2006?
B: Yes, I had been to the U.S. once before.
B: Yes, I had been to the U.S. once before.
USE 2 Duration Before
Something in the Past (Non-Continuous Verbs)
With Non-Continuous Verbs and some
non-continuous uses of Mixed Verbs, we use the Past Perfect to show
that something started in the past and continued up until another action in the
past.
Examples:
·
We had had that car for ten years before it
broke down.
·
By the time Alex finished his studies, he had been in
London for over eight years.
·
They felt bad about selling the house because they had
owned it for more than forty years.
Although the above use of Past Perfect is normally limited to
Non-Continuous Verbs and non-continuous uses of Mixed Verbs, the words
"live," "work," "teach," and "study"
are sometimes used in this way even though they are NOT Non-Continuous Verbs.
IMPORTANT Specific
Times with the Past Perfect
Unlike with the Present Perfect, it is
possible to use specific time words or phrases with the Past Perfect. Although
this is possible, it is usually not necessary.
Example:
·
She had visited her Japanese relatives once
in 1993 before she moved in with them in 1996.
MOREOVER
If the Past Perfect action did occur at a specific time, the
Simple Past can be used instead of the Past Perfect when "before" or
"after" is used in the sentence. The words "before" and
"after" actually tell you what happens first, so the Past Perfect is
optional. For this reason, both sentences below are correct.
Examples:
·
She had visited her Japanese relatives once
in 1993 before she moved in with them in 1996.
·
She visited her Japanese relatives once in
1993 before she moved in with them in 1996.
HOWEVER
If the Past Perfect is not referring to an action at a
specific time, Past Perfect is not optional. Compare the examples below. Here
Past Perfect is referring to a lack of experience rather than an action at a
specific time. For this reason, Simple Past cannot be used.
Examples:
·
She never saw a bear before she moved to
Alaska. Not Correct
·
She had never seen a bear
before she moved to Alaska. Correct
ADVERB PLACEMENT
The examples below show the placement for grammar adverbs
such as: always, only, never, ever, still, just, etc.
Examples:
·
You had previously studied English before
you moved to New York.
·
Had you previously studied English before
you moved to New York?
ACTIVE / PASSIVE
Examples:
·
George had repaired many cars before he
received his mechanic's license. Active
·
Many cars had been repaired by George before
he received his mechanic's license. Passive
Referensi:
