Level: intermediate
The past perfect is made from the verb had and the past participle of a verb:
I had finished the work.
She had gone.
The past perfect continuous is made from had been and the -ing form of a verb:
I had been working there for a year.
They had been painting the bedroom.
The past perfect is used in the same way as the present perfect, but it refers to a time in the past, not the present. We use the past perfect:
- for something that started in the past and continued up to a given time in the past:
When George died, he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty years.
She didn't want to move. She had lived in Liverpool all her life.
For this use, we often use the past perfect continuous:
She didn't want to move. She had been living in Liverpool all her life.
Everything was wet. It had been raining for hours.
- for something that happened several times before a point in the past and continued after that point:
He was a wonderful guitarist. He had been playing ever since he was a teenager.
He had written three books and he was working on another one.
- when we are reporting our experience up to a point in the past:
My eighteenth birthday was the worst day I had ever had.
I was pleased to meet George. I hadn’t met him before, even though I had met his wife several times.
- for something that happened in the past and is important at a later time in the past:
I couldn't get into the house. I had lost my keys.
Teresa wasn't at home. She had gone shopping.
We often use expressions with for and since with the past perfect:
I was sorry when the factory closed. I had worked there for ten years.
I had been watching that programme every week since it started, but I missed the last episode.
We do not normally use the past perfect continuous with stative verbs. We use the past perfect simple instead:
Up until that moment, I'd never believed (NOT
been believing) in astrology.
- Past perfect
- Past perfect and past simple
Past perfect and hypotheses
We can also use the past perfect to make hypotheses about the past (when we imagine something). See these pages:
Hello Lexeus,
It's perfectly fine to put an adverb (once) between the auxilliary verb (had) and the past participle (snaked).
As far as the use of the past perfect in your example goes, it requires a past time reference point, but this may be included in the broader context in which the sentence appears. The use of the past perfect implies that the situation later (but still in the past) changed.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Dukul,
All of the sentences are grammatically possible. The first sentence suggests that the birthday was the worst day then, but may have since been superseded by something even worse. The second sentence tells us that the birthday is still the worst day and suggests that that fact will never change. The third sentence is similar to the second, but suggests that a worse day may still come along at some point.
In general, the choice of verb forms like this to use depends on the context in which you are going to use it and what you want to say. Is the sentence part of a narrative? Is it direct speech? Are there other events which form a context for the sentence?
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
The past simple is the best option here as the verb does not describe a particular action but rather a permanent fact about Jane - something which will always be true and for which we would use the present simple normally, or the past simple in a narrative.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Anubhav,
When we are going as a guest or to participate in the ceremony, we say 'to the wedding'.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Parva,
'Shall' is a modal verb and does not have a past perfect form. The perfect form of the modal would be 'should have', as in 'What should we have done?' but whether or not this is appropriate would depend on the context in which it is used.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Anubhav,
The correct form here would be ...you had to...
The meaning of had to here is similar to 'you chose to' or 'you insisted on' rather than expressing obligation.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Anubhav,
I can't think of a context in which 'As if...' would be followed by '...would have had to...'
We use [would have + VERB3] for hypothetical/unreal situations, but 'as if' is not used to introduce conditional forms. We use 'as if' in the same way as 'as though': to show not a condition followed by a result, but rather the ironic surprise of the speaker at something they consider unnecessary or exaggerated.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Anubhav
'would have had' and 'have had' are not the same. 'have had' is the present perfect of 'have'. The present perfect and present forms have very similar meanings -- please see the Present tense section of our grammar reference and its different subpages for an explanation of the differences in meaning.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello stanraw88
The verb forms in the sentence you ask about are grammatically correct, though without knowing what the context is, I can't really say whether they are correct for the situation.
People often use 'so' in this way in informal speaking, but I would recommend changing it to something like 'really' instead.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Dayan
You could indeed say 'She had bought a new car before she sold the old one' and the use of the past perfect for 'buy' in this way makes more sense to me too. I'm afraid I can't explain the sentence that you ask about without knowing more about the context it was written in -- sorry!
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed,
You can use 'had got'. This is not because there is another past perfect, but rather because the action of arriving at (get to) the stadium comes before another action in the past (realise).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
Yes, that is correct as long as the habit is no longer true: I had always... but now I don't worry about that sort of thing.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
The first sentence (had always) would be used as part of a narrative, in which the speaker/writer is describing how things were before another time in the past, after which they were different. For example:
When I went to university I became a very messy person. I had always arranged my things before I went to bed, but at university I started leaving them all over the floor...
The second sentence simply describes the past. It does not suggest this comes before any other action in the past.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Amit12148
By far the most common tense used with 'ago' is the past simple, but it is possible (though relatively rare) to use it with the past perfect. For example:
Instead, we commonly use 'earlier' or 'prior' when the point of time is in the past, e.g. 'He had moved to Spain six years earlier'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi wolfie95
No, the past simple is the correct form here: 'When I arrived, my father was watching TV.'
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
I'm afraid we don't comment on explanations from elsewhere. Our policy to offer our own material but not get into critiquing what other sites or books might have to say.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ali boroki
I would first recommend you read our talking about the past page, where the differences between these tenses is explained. If you have any specific questions after that, please feel free to ask us there. It would help if you gave an example, even if you're not sure that it's correct.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
He found out what she did and broke up with her.
He found out what she had done and broke up with her.
what's the difference do they mean the same thing? what's correct?
Hi Mohammed,
'be' is used to form any continuous tense -- please see our present continuous page for some examples.
Is that what you mean? I'm not sure I've understood your question. If you meant something else, please give us an example and we'll do our best to help you.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Joanna,
No, that sentence is not correct. I can't be completely sure, not knowing the full context, but I think what you want to say is probably this:
However, I think the natural way to express it would be as follows:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Lal,
The first sentence is correct. The second, as you say, is not. This is because the verb 'went' describes an action in a finished time frame, whereas 'has been cooking' describes unfinished time.
You could say 'While my mother has been cooking, the phone has rung three times'. This would all refer to unfinished time, so it would mean that she was still cooking and the phone might ring again.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Lal,
No, I'm afraid that's not correct. 'had been cooking' makes reference to some other past event that happened after the cooking, but no other such event is mentioned -- 'went off' describes an action that happened during the cooking, not after it.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team