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The Past Perfect

The Past Perfect

 Form:  had + past participle
We use the past perfect to:

Clarify order of two past actions (to show that one happened before the other)
·         In reported speech.
·         In conditional type three
·         To express a past wish

Examples:

I had phoned Jamal before I went out. Action 1: I phoned Jamal. Action 2: I went out
Amin told me that he had been away for the whole week.
If I had worked hard, I would have got the prize.
I wish I had gone with you!

Exercise: Put the verbs between brackets in the correct form.
1- Nadia (never read)..............................such an interesting story before she moved to university in Spain.
2- (Nadia, ever, study)..................................Spanish before she moved there?
3- She (be).............................there once as a tourist.
4- She only understood the text in Spanish because she (read)............................ it twice.



Answers: 1(had never read) 2 (had Nadia ever studies) 3 (has) 4 (had read)

The Past Perfect Continuous

 Form: had + been+ verb+ ing
We use the past perfect continuous to: 

 1) refer to an action in the past which continued until another action took place.
2) emphasise that something occurred for a long time before another event in the past.


 Example: Before he retired, he had been doing a lot of business in many countries.


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