This document discusses the past perfect tense and how it is used to indicate an action that was completed before another past action took place. It provides examples of sentences using the past perfect and past simple tenses, and explains how to convert between the two tenses. It also contains an exercise for the reader to practice converting sentences from past simple to past perfect and vice versa to understand how to properly use the tenses.

1. The Past Perfect

2. When I arrived,
John left.

3. When I arrived,
John left.

4. When I arrived,
John left.
past simple

5. past simple
+ past simple
=
2 consecutive actions

6. Iarrived

7. Iarrived
Johnleft

8. Iarrived
Johnleft
Did I see
John?

9. Iarrived
Johnleft
Did I see
John?
Yes

10. When I arrived,
John was leaving.

11. When I arrived,
John was leaving.

12. When I arrived,
John was leaving.
past
continuous

13. past simple
+ past continuous
=
a short action that interrupts
a long action

14. Iarrived

15. Iarrived
John was leaving

16. Iarrived
John was leaving
Did John
leave?

17. Iarrived
John was leaving
Did John
leave?
We don’t
know

18. Iarrived
John was leaving
Did John
leave?
We don’t
know
maybe he
left…

19. Iarrived
John was leaving
Did John
leave?
We don’t
know
maybe he
left…
…or maybe
he stayed
because I
arrived

20. Iarrived
John was leaving
this combination of
tenses is called
‘interrupted action’

21. When I arrived,
John had left.

22. When I arrived,
John had left.

23. When I arrived,
John had left.
past
perfect

24. past simple
+ past perfect
=
an action
preceded by another action

25. Iarrived

26. Johnhadleft.
Iarrived

27. Johnhadleft.
Iarrived
Did I see
John?

28. Johnhadleft.
Iarrived
Did I see
John?
No

29. Johnhadleft.
Iarrived
Did I see
John?
No
He left then
I arrived

30. construction of the past perfect

31. I had done…

32. I had done…
auxiliary verb: ‘to have’

33. I had done…
auxiliary verb: ‘to have’
conjugated in the past: ‘had’

34. I had done…
auxiliary verb: ‘to have’
conjugated in the past: ‘had’
main verb as
past participle

35. I
he
she
it
we
you
they
had
done
taken
been
arrived
met
studied
etc.

36. She had taken…
+ive

37. She hadn’t taken…
-ive

38. Had she taken… ?
?ive

39. Yes, she had.
No, she hadn’t.
s.a.

40. tense gymnastics
!

41. convert
past simple to past perfect
and
past perfect to past simple

42. past simple past perfect
He made a cake.
I hadn’t finished.
We didn’t win the match.
Had you taken the bus?
Did you see the film?
She had worn the dress.
I drank all the beer.
The alarm hadn’t rung.
You didn’t choose a film.
We had met before.
Did they speak to her?

43. past simple past perfect
He made a cake. He’d made a cake.
I didn’t finish. I hadn’t finished.
We didn’t win the match. We hadn’t won the match.
Did you take the bus? Had you taken the bus?
Did you see the film? Had you seen the film?
She wore the dress. She had worn the dress.
I drank all the beer. I had drunk all the beer.
The alarm didn’t ring. The alarm hadn’t rung.
You didn’t choose a film. You hadn’t chosen a film.
We met before. We had met before.
Did they speak to her? Had they spoken to her?

44. same exercise
but be careful translating
‘essere’

45. past simple past perfect
He was at the bar.
They hadn’t been at work.
I didn’t get dressed.
Had you arrived early?
What time did you get up?
It had rained all night.
Everyone went away.
They hadn’t called each other.
The fire didn’t die.
The baby had been born.
Did they relax after dinner?

46. past simple past perfect
He was at the bar. He had been at the bar.
They weren’t at work. They hadn’t been at work.
I didn’t get dressed. I hadn’t got dressed.
Did you arrive early? Had you arrived early?
What time did you get up? What time had you got up?
It rained all night. It had rained all night.
Everyone went away. Everyone had gone away.
They didn’t call each other. They hadn’t called each other.
The fire didn’t die. The fire hadn’t died.
The baby was born. The baby had been born.
Did they relax after dinner? Had they relaxed after dinner?

47. homework

49. module 6, part 17, 1-7

50. www.davidnicholson.it