Structure and form
S + [had (not)+ past participle] + C
The form of the past perfect tense is the verb to have in the past (had) plus the past participle.
To form the negative just add not after had.
Examples
-John had been at the disco.
-They had studied.
-I had left late
-I hadn't bought the groceries
Question form
QW + [had + S + past participle] + C
- Where had she left?
- What had they done?
- How many beers had they drunk?
Use (Uso correcto del Past Perfect)
- To describe a situation or an action which happened before another action in the past. The other action is usually formed with the past simple tense. Use this tense to indicate that an action was finished in the past before something else happened also in the past.
- We use the past perfect tense in reported speech (CLICK here to read the reported speech class)
- I had eaten lunch when my wife arrived. (The first clause happened first)
- My brother came home but his girlfriend had already left (The second clause happened first)
El past perfect tense es un tiempo que se usa para establecer un orden de acciones en el pasado. Por ende, usualmente se usa con el past simple tense. La clausula (oración) que tenga el past perfect indica la acción que paso primero.Acá tienen un repaso de los tiempos del pasado (past simple, past continuous, past perfect) para que aclarezca sus dudas. Recuerden que si no ven la imagen visitar nuestra pagina blog.:
En el caso siguiente:
My father had left when my mother came.
La primera parte (clausula) es la que sucedió primero y la segunda (when my mother came) es la que le sigue. La traduccion varía pero ustedes tienen que dejar en claro que la primera parte paso primero. Una probable traducción seria "Mi padre ya se había ido cuando mi mama llego".
Recuerden que no es necesario traducir y que es mejor y muchisimo mas fáciles aprender las reglas en ingles practicar el uso correcto.
