Grammar › Past Perfect

Past Perfect: negative sentences

520 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 52 tests of ten

Put not after had. The past participle does not change.

The past participle is the third form in verb tables: written, gone, built. It never changes with the subject.

Practice this form

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The pattern

Not goes straight after had, and almost always contracts to hadn’t:

He had not arrived. → He hadn’t arrived.

Explaining what went wrong

The negative Past Perfect very often supplies the reason for a past problem:

The main clause is Past Simple; the explanation steps back.

never, not yet

Both fit naturally, and never replaces not rather than joining it:

With wish and if only

A regret about the past uses the Past Perfect, and the negative is common:

I wish I hadn’t said that. If only we hadn’t missed the train.

All forms

SubjectFull formShort form
every subjecthad not seenhadn't seen

Examples

Taken from the 520 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.

Mistakes to avoid

Wrong: She didn't had finished. correct: She hadn't finished.

The tense makes its own negative. Did never appears with had.

Wrong: I hadn't never been there. correct: I had never been there.

Never is already negative. Two negatives cancel out.

Other forms of Past Perfect

Positive Statements in Past Perfect Tense 490 sentences, 49 tests of ten Negative Statements in Past Perfect Tense 520 sentences, 52 tests of ten Questions in Past Perfect Tense 450 sentences, 45 tests of ten WH-Questions in Past Perfect Tense 450 sentences, 45 tests of ten
Mixed practice → Done with this form? Try it among all the others — ten, twenty or thirty sentences from every form at once.