Past Perfect

Usage

The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.

In these examples, Event A is the event that happened first and Event B is the second or more recent event:

Event A	Event B
John had gone out	when I arrived in the office.

Event A	Event B
I had saved my document	before the computer crashed.

Event B	Event A
When they arrived	we had already started cooking.

Event B	Event A
He was very tired	because he hadn't slept well.

Past Perfect + `just`

`just`` is used with the past perfect to refer to an event that was only a short time earlier than before now.

Examples:

The train had just left when I arrived at the station.

She had just left the room when the police arrived.

I had just put the washing out when it started to rain.

Subject-Verb Agreement

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle (V3) of the main verb.

Affirmative

I had drunk...
- I'd drunk...
You had drunk...
- You'd drunk...
We had drunk...
- We'd drunk...
They had drunk...
- They'd drunk...
He had drunk...
- He'd drunk...
She had drunk...
- She'd drunk...
It had drunk...
- It'd drunk...

Interrogative

Had I drunk...?
Had you drunk...?
Had we drunk...?
Had they drunk...?
Had he drunk...?
Had she drunk...?
Had it drunk...?

Negative

I hadn't drunk...
- I had not drunk...
- I'd not drunk...
You hadn't drunk...
- You had not drunk...
- You'd not drunk...
We hadn't drunk...
- We had not drunk...
- We'd not drunk...
They hadn't drunk...
- They had not drunk...
- They'd not drunk...
He hadn't drunk...
- He had not drunk...
- He'd not drunk...
She hadn't drunk...
- She had not drunk...
- She'd not drunk...
It hadn't drunk...
- It had not drunk...
- It'd not drunk...

Continuous Perfect Continuous