home our courses resources about us

 

 

Tenses

Conditionals

Verb structures

Modal verbs

Prepositions

Adjectives/adverbs

Reported speech

Questions

Various grammar

 

 
 

 

Tenses >> Past perfect tense

Structure of past perfect

 I'd (I had) seen him.   

You hadn't (had not) seen him.

Had you seen him?


Past perfect - common mistakes

Common mistakes

Correct version

Why?

I didn't been to London.

I hadn't been to London.

The helping verb had / hadn't is used in the past perfect.

When I saw him, I noticed that he had a haircut.

When I saw him I noticed that he had had a haircut.

The action (haircut) which happened before another past action must be put into the past perfect to make the time order clear to the listener.

He told me has been to London.

He told me he had been to London.

His original words were: ''I have been to London.'' However, in reported speech we move the tense back - present perfect (have been) becomes past perfect (had been).

 

<< Resources main page      << Grammar main page

Home | Česky | Our Courses | Contact | Resources