Past Perfect: positive sentences
490 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 49 tests of ten
Had for every subject, then the past participle of the verb.
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
No agreement at all — had is the same for every subject:
I had gone. She had gone. They had gone.
The short form is ’d: I’d, you’d, he’d, we’d, they’d. Note that he’d can be he had or he would — the form after it tells you which. He’d gone is had; he’d go is would.
already, just, never
These sit between had and the past participle:
- The shop had already closed.
- He had just left when you rang.
- She had never flown before.
by the time, before, after
The commonest frames for this tense:
- By the time we arrived, they had eaten.
- She had finished before the bell rang.
- After he had spoken, the room went quiet.
With after, the Past Perfect is optional — the word already fixes the order — but it is never wrong.
In storytelling
A narrative in the Past Simple can step backwards for a moment with the Past Perfect, then return:
He opened the letter. It had been posted three weeks earlier. He read it twice and put it away.
All forms
| Subject | Full form | Short form |
|---|---|---|
| I | I had finished | I'd finished |
| you | you had finished | you'd finished |
| he, she, it | he had finished | he'd finished |
| we | we had finished | we'd finished |
| they | they had finished | they'd finished |
Examples
Taken from the 490 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.
- He had finished his work shift before going home.
- She had completed her work assignments before leaving the office.
- He had read the book before he watched the movie.
- Sarah had prepared her presentation before the meeting started.
- The children had eaten their cookies before they went to bed.
- The company had had its best financial year ever before the crisis hit.
- She had taken many photos before her camera stopped working.
- We had made a lot of progress before the project was canceled.
- We had heard the news before it was broadcast.
- They had known each other before they got married.
- She had visited a lot of places before she settled down.
- Emma had gone for a run before she felt a pain in her leg.
Mistakes to avoid
Wrong: I'd saw it before. correct: I'd seen it before.
Saw is the past; the past participle is seen.
Wrong: He had ate before we arrived. correct: He had eaten before we arrived.
The past participle of eat is eaten.