The past perfect tense is used to show that something happened before another action in the past.
Here are some examples.
Past perfect tense examples
Examples of Affirmative sentences
Construction of an affirmative sentence for the past perfect tense:
Subject + had + past participle + object.
Examples of past perfect tense:
- I had written articles on various topics before he came.
- She had met him before the party.
- I had written the email before he apologized.
- You had studied Italian before you moved to Rome.
- I had fallen asleep before eight o’clock.
- I had never felt something like that before I met you.
- She wished she had seen her friend.
- I called her but she had already left.
- I had been to Mexico once before.
See also 10 more examples of Past Perfect Tense sentences in another article.
Examples of negative sentences
Negative sentence construction for the past perfect tense:
Subject + had not + past participle + object.
Examples of past perfect tense:
- I had not watched the cricket match.
- She had not lived in California before moving to New York.
- My friends hadn’t ever gone to France.
- I had not eaten at that restaurant before today.
- She hadn’t had time to explain it before seeing him.
Examples of questions
Question construction for the past perfect tense:
Had + subject + past participle + object.
Examples of past perfect tense:
- Had you come to the program before I came?
- Had you cleaned up the mess by the time they came home?
- Why had he agreed to work for that salary?
- Had you ever been to London before you moved there?
- What had they said that made him so angry?
Read the detailed article on the past perfect tense.