Use the Past Perfect tense to talk about multiple things that have already happened.
Several tenses, or verb forms, are used in the English language to describe when something occurred. The simple tenses include:
Present: I am studying for an exam. (when something is happening)
Past: I studied for an exam. (when something happened)
Future: I will study for an exam. (when something will happen)
The simple past tense allows us to describe something that occurred in the past. What happens when we need to talk about multiple things that occurred in the past? Let’s say, we want to talk about these two things:
We arrived at the theater at noon.
The movie started at 11 a.m.
To discuss both events and distinguish their order, we can use the past perfect.
The past perfect features had + the past participle verb. For example:
When we arrived at the theater, the movie had started.
Most past participle forms are simply had + the simple past tense verb.
| Present | Past | Past Perfect |
| start | started | had started |
| jump | jumped | had jumped |
| look | looked | had looked |
| walk | walked | had walked |
| study | studied | had studied |
However, some verbs have irregular forms. For example:
| Present | Past | Past Perfect |
| see | saw | had seen |
| write | wrote | had written |
| swim | swam | had swum |
| begin | began | had begun |
| grow | grew | had grown |
| lie | lay | had lain |
Remember to use the past participle form, rather than the simple past tense verb form, when utilizing the past perfect tense. With the past perfect tense, you can clarify the order of multiple events that happened in the past. Correctly using this tense will make your writing easier to read and understand.
Source consulted: Upswing Writing Lab
Guide created by: C. Jones 3/29/2021
Revised by: B. McCoid 1/19/2024
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