ESL Inventory

Past Perfect: Rules, Examples & Exercises

Past Perfect, the famous ‘past of the past’. Try this exercise to check your knowledge on this verb tense.

EXERCISE: Past Perfect – True/False

Choose ‘true’ if the sentence is correct, and ‘false’ if the sentence is not correct.

1 / 10

He hadn’t paid the bill when the waiter asked for it.

2 / 10

They had make all the arrangements before the event started.

3 / 10

I haven’t heard from her in years up to that moment.

4 / 10

He hadn’t called me by the time I left.

5 / 10

They hadn’t finish their homework when the bell rang.

6 / 10

You eaten lunch before the meeting?

7 / 10

Had you ever been to Brazil before your trip last year?

8 / 10

She had gone to bed before I arrived.

9 / 10

We had finished all our work by the time the office closed.

10 / 10

Had they worked together before the project?

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Was this too hard? Study the article below and do the exercises at the bottom of the page.

The past perfect tense is used to talk about actions that happened before another action or time in the past. It helps us show which action happened first.

Past Perfect Structure

The past perfect tense is formed using:

  • Affirmative: Subject + had + past participle.
  • Negative: Subject + had not (hadn’t) + past participle.
  • Interrogative: Had + subject + past participle?

Past Participle

This is the third form of the verb:

  • Regular verbs: work → worked, play → played.
  • Irregular verbs: go → gone, eat → eaten.

Conjugation Table

SubjectAffirmativeNegativeInterrogative
II had finished.I had not finished.Had I finished?
YouYou had finished.You had not finished.Had you finished?
He/She/ItHe had finished.He had not finished.Had he finished?
WeWe had finished.We had not finished.Had we finished?
TheyThey had finished.They had not finished.Had they finished?

When to Use it

This verb tense describes actions that happened before another action or time in the past. Also…

Infographic showing the Past Perfect uses: earlier past events, period of time in the past, regrets and wishes. Full article please visit: www.esl-inventory.com
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Finding confusing with other Past Tenses? Also can also check Past Simple, and Past Perfect Continuous. More about how to express wishes you can check Subjunctive Mood in the past.

Time Expressions

Time expressions often used with this verb tense include:

  • Before:
    • She had left before the meeting started.
  • By the time:
    • By the time I arrived, they had already finished eating.
  • After:
    • After he had studied, he went to bed.

Key Points

  1. Affirmative: Use had + past participle.
  2. Negative: Add not after “had” (short form: hadn’t).
  3. Interrogative: Start with had, then use subject + past participle.
  4. Use time expressions like before, by the time, or after to show the sequence of events.

Past Perfect Exercises

EXERCISE: Write a complete sentence in the Past Perfect

Write complete sentences in the Past Perfect. Use affirmative, negative, or question forms as indicated.
Example:
Prompt: she – play the piano – before (affirmative)
Answer: She had played the piano before.

1 / 10

You – lock the door – before going to sleep (question)

2 / 10

She – finish the exam – when the bell rang (negative)

3 / 10

We – already start cooking – when we say there were no eggs (affirmative)

4 / 10

We – eat – before the movie (affirmative)

5 / 10

He – call – before I got home (negative)

6 / 10

He – break – that window before (question)

7 / 10

They – clean the house – before the visit (question)

8 / 10

She – decide – by then (negative)

9 / 10

I – already leave – when he arrived (affirmative)

10 / 10

They – arrive – by noon (affirmative)

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Affirmative: TestEnglish | EnglischHilfen | Ego4u1 | Ego4u2 | Ego4u3 | TalkpalAI | SpeakSpeak | Wordwall | ToLearnEnglish

Negative: Ego4u1 | Ego4u2 | Ego4u3 | EnglischHilfen

Interrogative: PerfectEnglish | Ego4u1 | Ego4u2 | Ego4u3 | EnglischHilfen

Mixed: PerfectEnglish | EnglischHilfen | Focus | Ego4u | EnglishClub | Wordwall | AgendaWeb1 | AgendaWeb2 | AgendaWeb3 | Grammarism | MontMorales | OxfordUP | BritishCouncil | English4u | EngBlocks | LiveWorksheets1 | LiveWorksheets2 | LiveWorksheets3 | LiveWorksheets4 | LiveWorksheets5 | LiveWorksheets6 | ToLearnEnglish

Speaking Activity: Wordwall