English Tenses IV
An Overview
Past Perfect (I had done)
Had + past participle
(gone, seen, finished etc.)
When do we use Past perfect?
• When we talk about things that
happened before something else in
the past:
- When Sarah arrived at the party,
Paul had already gone home.
Have done (present perfect) Had done (past perfect)
have done →I_______ had done → I______I_____
past now past now
- Who is that woman? I´ve - I didn´t know who she was. I
never seen her before. ´d never seen her before. (=
- We aren´t hungry. We´ve just before that time)
had lunch. - We weren´t hungry. We´d
- The house is dirty. They just had lunch.
haven´t cleaned it for weeks. - The house was dirty. They
hadn´t cleaned it for weeks.
Exercises
• Read the situations and write sentences
using the words in the brackets.
1) You went back to your home town after
many years. It wasn´t the same as
before.
(it / change / a lot)
It had changed a lot.
2) I invited Rachel to the party but
she couldn´t come.
(she / arrange / to do something else)
She had arranged to do something else.
3) You went to the cinema last night.
You arrived at the cinema late.
(the film / already / begin)
The film had already begun.
A woman walked into the room.
She was a complete stranger to me.
I .......................................before.
(see)
I had never seen her before.
• We arrived at work in the morning
and ........... (find) that
somebody .................... (break) into
the office during the night. So
we ................
(call) the police.
Past Perfect or Past Simple
1) Was Tom at the party when you arrived?
- No, he ............... (go) home.
2) I felt very tired when I went home, so I
............... (go) straight to bed.
3) The house was very quiet when I got
home.
Everybody ...................... (go) to bed.
Past Perfect Continuous
(I had been doing)
I/we/you/ (= I´d etc.) doing
they had been working
He/she/it (= he´d etc.) playing etc.
Example situation
• Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of
the window. The sun was shining but the
ground was very wet. It had been raining.
It was not raining when I looked out of the
window; the sun was shining. But it had been
raining before. That´s why the ground was
wet.
• When the boys came into the house;
their clothes were dirty, their hair was
untidy and one of them had a black eye.
They´d been fighting.
• I was very tired when I arrived home. I´d
been working hard all day.
Sth. had been happening for a period of time
before sth. else happened
• Our game of tennis was interrupted. We
´d been playing for about half an hour
when it started to rain heavily.
• Ken gave up smoking two years ago. He´d
been smoking for 30 years.
Present perfect continuous Past perfect continuous
I have been -ing → I______ I had been -ing → I________I___
past now past now
- I hope the bus comes soon. I - At last the bus came. I´d
´ve been waiting for 20 been waiting for 20 minutes.
minutes. (before now) (before the bus came)
- He´s out of breath. He has - He was out of breath. He had
been running. been running.
Compare had been doing and was
doing
• It wasn´t raining when we went out. The sun
was shinig. But it had been raining, so the
ground was wet.
• Ann was sitting in an armchair watching
television. She was tired because she´d been
working very hard.
Exercises
1) I was very tired when I arrived home.
(I/ work/ hard all day) ...........................
- I´d been working hard all day /
I had been working hard all day.
2) Ann woke up in the middle of the
night. She was frightened and didn´t
know where she was.
(she / dream) ...................................
- She had been dreaming /
She´d been dreaming.
• We played tennis yesterday. Half an hour
after we began playing, it started to rain.
- We.......................................for half an
hour when..................................... ..
We had been playing for half an
hour when it started to rain.
Past Contiuous (I was doing), Past Perfect (I had done) or
Past Perfect Continuous (I had been doing)?
1) It was very noisy next door. Our neighbours
............................... (have) a party.
2) We were good friends. We ......................
(know) each other for a long time. Jonh and I
went for a walk. I had difficulty keeping up
with him because he ................... (walk) so
fast.
3) Mary was sitting on the ground. She was out of
breath. She ................................. (run).
4) I was sad when I sold my car. I ....... (have) it for a very long time.
Have and have got
(= possess, own etc.)
• In questions and negative sentences
Have you got any money? I haven´t got any money.
Do you have any money? I don´t have any money.
Has she got a car? She hasn´t got a car.
Does she have a car? She doesn´t have a car.
When have means ´possess´
• You can´t use continuous forms
(is having / are having) !
- I have / I´ve got a headache.
(not ‚I‘m having‘)
For the past we use had (usually without
‚got‘)
• Ann had long hair when she was a child.
• Ididn‘t have a watch, so I didn‘t know the
time.
Have a breakfast / have a bath / have a
good time etc.
• have:
- breakfast / dinner / a cup of coffee / a
cigarette etc.
- a bath / a shower / a swim / a rest / a party
a holiday / a nice time
- an accident / an experience / a dream
- a look / a chat
- a baby (= give birth to a baby)
- difficulty / trouble / fun
In these expressions ‚have‘ is like other verbs. You can use
continuous forms (is having / are having etc.)
