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Analogously to preterite pluperfect of the Spanish language, English has a time oriented to account for the actions that occurred in a past that does not appear isolated, but situated in relation to another past. To refer to the latter the traditional simple past is used, while to refer to the former the perfect past. The past perfect (in English, past perfect) is constructed with an auxiliary and the participle.
Certain words usually indicate that the sentence may be structured on this verb tense. One of them is 'when'(Which means' when '), another is'before'(Which means' before'). These temporal connectors locate the chronologically differentiated pasts, by referring to something that had happened before another known event.
If a direct analogy were made with Spanish, the past perfect would be equivalent to 'there were + participle', And in English it takes the form of'had + participle’. Note that the auxiliary verb is ‘had', The past of'have', what does it mean 'to have'. Likewise, 'have' Y 'have you'(Also associated with the verb'to have') Are used for the present perfect, closely related to the past perfect.
The past perfect admits two possibilities according to the characteristics of the action referred to in that past prior to another past: it may have been durable or not. Depending on that, the verb will be simple or continuous.
Thus, the categories of past perfect simple for actions that occurred at a certain time in the past (translated, 'there were + participle'), and of past perfect continuous for actions that lasted a rather long time (where the ending ‘ing'Of the gerund, and translated, a structure of the type'had + been + gerund’).
Examples of sentences in the past perfect (English)
- Max knew Paris because he had visited the city several times.
- He had never seen a bear before she moved to Alaska.
- Had you been waiting long before the bus arrived?
- I had not been shopping when you called me.
- They had studied English before they went to London.
- The children hadn't done their homework, so they were in problems.
- Had Paul worked as an engineer for long before he changed careers?
- She said that she had been working as a teacher for over 20 years.
- I had saved my document before the computer died.
- They had been living in that apartment before they sold the house at the country.
- He hadn’t studied for the test, so he was very nervous.
- We had not been traveling long before we had our first problem.
- I just took my credit cards before they had stolen my bag.
- If the spiderhad not frightened me, I would have finished the book this morning.
- Ronnie and Stefanie hadn't met before the party.
- She had begun the medical treatment when the doctors decided ordered the surgery.
- When I arrived at the cinema, the film had already started.
- I had had that house for nine years before I had to sell it.
- They had walked for hours before they entered to the stadium
- I had eaten on the morning so I wasn’t hungry.
It can serve you: Examples of Present Perfect
Andrea is a language teacher, and on her Instagram account she offers private lessons by video call so that you can learn to speak English.
