The past perfect tense

Rob
Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute Grammar with me, Rob.

Catherine And me, Catherine. Hello.

Rob Today we’re talking about the past perfect tense.

Catherine Yes, the past perfect. When we want to talk about two things that happened at different times in the past, we can use the past perfect tense - that’s a subject with had plus the past participle . And here’s Harry with our first example:

Harry
Mary rang John’s doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.

Catherine And let’s hear that again.

Harry
Mary rang John’s doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.

Rob
Thanks Harry. Now we could put these two events in the past simple tense, something like this:

Harry
John went to work. Then Mary rang John’s doorbell.

Rob And once again Harry.

Harry
John went to work. Then Mary rang John’s doorbell.

Catherine
Or, we can change the order of events in the sentence, and use the past perfect - that’s had with a past participle - to show which event actually happened first.

Harry
Mary rang John’s doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.

Catherine And once again.

Harry
Mary rang John’s doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.

Rob
And here, the past perfect in John had gone shows that this happened before the past simple phrase Mary rang John’s doorbell . So we have: Mary rang John’s doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.

Catherine
Exactly. Now, let’s look at some more examples.

Harry
I was pleased when I got a text from Jim, because I’d lost his number.

Rob Let’s hear that again.

Harry
I was pleased when I got a text from Jim, because I’d lost his number.

Catherine
So we’ve got two past events. First, Harry lost Jim’s number; then he got his text. But in Harry’s sentence, the event that happened first in time is mentioned second in the sentence.

Rob
So he uses the past perfect - I’d lost his number - to show that the second event he mentions, actually happened first.

Harry
I was pleased when I got a text from Jim, because I’d lost his number.

Rob
Now in spoken English, the past perfect can sometimes be difficult to hear.

Catherine
Yes that’s true - in our example just now, the two words I had are shortened to I’d . I’d lost his number.

Rob
So had is shortened to just a /d/ sound. Listen out for the short /d/ sound in this next example:

Harry
When Mrs Brown opened the washing machine she realised she’d washed her phone.

Rob And again.

Harry
When Mrs Brown opened the washing machine she realised she’d washed her phone.

Catherine
Did you catch that?

Rob First, Mrs Brown washed her phone in the washing machine. Then she opened the washing machine. Then she realised… She’d washed her phone!

Catherine Yes, and the phrase she had washed is shortened to she’d washed . One more time please Harry.

Harry
When Mrs Brown opened the washing machine she realised she’d washed her phone.

Rob
Oops - that’s an expensive mistake. Poor Mrs Brown!

Catherine
Yeah, she won’t do that again!

IDENT
6 Minute Grammar from bbclearningenglish.com.

Catherine Now for a quiz. I’m going to say some sentences and, as you listen, try to decide what happened first, and what happened second. Here’s the first one. I woke up late because I’d forgotten to set the alarm.

Rob
OK, so the past perfect here is I’d forgotten , and the order of events was: first, I forgot to set the alarm, and second, I woke up late. Here it is again.

Harry
I woke up late because I’d forgotten to set the alarm.

Catherine
Great. Another one: I hadn’t brought a towel, so I couldn’t have a shower.

Rob
How embarrassing. OK, and we’ve got the negative of had, which is hadn’t . So first, I didn’t bring a towel, and second, I couldn’t have a shower. Here it is again.

Harry I hadn’t brought a towel, so I couldn’t have a shower.

Catherine
Good. And for the last one: When they got to the station, they realised they’d left the tickets at home.

Rob
This one has three events: first, they left the tickets at home. Second, they got to the station. And third, they realised that the tickets were at home.

Catherine
Yes and the past perfect phrase they had left , was shortened to they’d left - which helps us show that order.

Harry When they got to the station, they realised they’d left the tickets at home.

Rob
Now, a mistake people sometimes make with the past perfect is: they use it too much, or they use it just because they are talking about something that happened a long time ago. Such as…

Harry Jackie had gone to a football match last month.

Catherine
Yes - there’s only one past event here, so we probably just need the past simple tense:

Harry Jackie went to a football match last month.

Rob
So that’s the past perfect. It’s made of had plus the past participle and we mainly use it to talk about a past event that happened before another past event.

Catherine
There’s more about this on our website at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Grammar.

All
Bye.