The past perfect

  • B1 · Intermediate
  • Grammar lesson
  • 60 min

The past perfect: had + past participle for the earlier of two past events. Negatives, questions, by the time, already and never, and how it differs from the past simple and the present perfect. From a wedding ring found in an old kitchen pipe to the student's own lost-and-found stories.

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Free, no card needed. The PDF has every slide, the homework and an answer key.

had lostBy the timehadn't found

What's in the lesson

  1. 1Warm-up
  2. 2Reading: the ring in the pipeReading comprehension
  3. 3What does it mean?Grammar exercise
  4. 4Find the past perfectGrammar exercise
  5. 5How the past perfect worksGrammar rule
  6. 6Why? Match the sentence halvesGrammar exercise
  7. 7What hadn't happened?Grammar exercise
  8. 8Which past?Grammar exercise
  9. 9Questions for your teacherGrammar exercise
  10. 10Say it naturallySpeaking practice
  11. 11Lost and foundSpeaking practice
  12. 12About youGrammar exercise
  13. 13Wrap-up

Homework

  1. 1Homework: the wrong dayGrammar exercise
  2. 2Homework: what happened first?Grammar exercise
  3. 3Homework: an object with a storyDiscussion

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

A few questions about you before we start.

  1. How old is the building you live in? Do you like old buildings or new ones?
  2. What do you know about the people who lived in your home before you?
  3. Have you ever found something old in your home, like a coin, a photo or a letter? What was it?

Grammar rule

How the past perfect works

had + past participle

Example
PositiveThe ring had been in the pipe for years.
NegativeCarol and Dean hadn't found it.
QuestionHad you met the neighbors before you moved in?

Short forms: I'd / she'd / we'd / they'd + past participle (she'd lost = she had lost) · hadn't = had not

Before another past event

We use it for the earlier of two past events: When the plumber found the ring, Carol had lost it many years before. (1. Carol lost it → 2. the plumber found it)

by the time, already, never

  • By the time the doctor called back, my fever had already gone down.
  • My grandmother had never left Texas before her seventieth birthday.
  • already, never, even and just go between had and the past participle: had even opened.

Past perfect, present perfect or past simple?

  • I have never cooked a turkey. (my life up to now: the present perfect)
  • I had never cooked a turkey before last Thanksgiving. (up to a moment in the past: the past perfect)
  • We moved here in 2019. (one finished event at a past time: the past simple)
With before and after, the order is already clear, so the past simple is fine too: We cleaned the kitchen after the guests left.

Watch out

  • had + past participle, not the past simple: had broke → had broken, had wrote → had written.
  • It needs a past moment to look back from. About your life up to now, use the present perfect: I have visited Mexico twice. (not I had visited)

Teach it live with video and a whiteboard, or print it: the PDF has every slide, the homework and the answers.

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