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Past perfect: I had already left
B1 B1 grammar · lesson 3 of 23
The past perfect shows that one past action happened before another past action. It helps you tell stories in a clear order.
Form
The past perfect is had + past participle. It is the same for all persons.
| Positive | Negative | Question |
|---|---|---|
| I had finished. | I hadn’t finished. | Had you finished? |
| She‘d left. | She hadn’t left. | Had she left? |
| They had eaten. | They had not eaten. | Had they eaten? |
Be careful: the short form ‘d can mean had or would. In She’d left, it means had, because a past participle follows.
Use: the earlier past
When we tell a story in the past simple, we use the past perfect for something that happened before the time of the story.
When I arrived at the station, the train had already left.
Anna was nervous because she had never flown before.
I didn’t recognise Tom. He had grown a beard.
By the time we got to the party, everyone had gone home.
Omar was hungry. He hadn’t eaten all day.
Had you ever met her before that evening?
After she had locked the door, she went to bed.
Past simple or past perfect?
Compare these two sentences. The tense changes the order of events.
When I got home, my brother cooked dinner. (First I got home, then he cooked.)
When I got home, my brother had cooked dinner. (He cooked first. Dinner was ready.)
If the order is already clear (for example with after or before), the past simple is often fine too: After she locked the door, she went to bed.
Common words
The past perfect often goes with already, just, never, ever, by the time, before, after, when. Put already, just, never and ever between had and the past participle: She had just left. I had never seen snow.
Common mistakes
✗ When we arrived, the film already started.
✓ When we arrived, the film had already started.
✗ She had went to bed early.
✓ She had gone to bed early.
✗ I had seen him yesterday.
✓ I saw him yesterday.