Past perfect

Basic rules

Simple past: The simple past is the first form of the past. If a sentence has a time adverbial in the past (e.g. "five minutes ago"), you always use the simple past.

Past perfect: If you want to explain something that happened before something else in the past, you use the past perfect.

Example: "But Elizabeth never really knew her mother because she had died in 1536".

Deeper explanation

Simple Past: You form the simple past with a verb in the second form, e.g. went, watched, ran... Adverbs like "yesterday" signal that you have to use the simple past

Example: "Yesterday I went fishing".

Past perfect: You form the past perfect with "had" and a word in the third form.

Example: "She had already made the bed.

Exercises

1. My dad _______ (tell) me that we would go to the Cinema after he _________(finish) work.
2. He ______ (say) that he _________(see) a great trailer a few days earlier.
3. I ______(say)that I would ______(get ready) after I ________(finish) homework.
4. My dad _____(say)that we would go at eight P.M. after he ____ (go) out of the room.
5. After I _________(do) my homework I ______(seach) my yellow Dress.
6. After I _______(find) my Dress I put it on and _____(tell) my dad that I am ready.

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