How to Use the Past Perfect | Advanced Grammar Lesson

hello and welcome oh I sounded like a newscaster um welcome everyone to listen today I hope everyone's doing really really well if you're just joining us I would like to welcome you from interactive English I hope you're having a wonderful day I'm having a really really nice day so today we are talking about something that's very useful as you may know we have twelve tenses 12 verb tenses in English and the past perfect is one of them and it's one of the more difficult ones because of all of these these different rules so that's what we're talking about today so if you've ever had any problems with it stick around because we are going to get it right so welcome welcome Bassam welcome Olga me welcome jaleesa Kira Lali Christian a lot hi everyone if you're just joining write down your name are you writing from so we get to know each other and get friendly because this is going to be a fun friendly lesson and we're going to learn and we'll know everything there is to know about the past perfect okay so I want to talk to you if if you haven't studied a lot of grammar or if you have and you just don't remember what is up with this tense I have a very very quick reminder of what is the past perfect so your brain can be enlightened and happy just like the little cartoon brain I have here in my picture so the past perfect we usually use of course it's a past tense so everything that we talked about in the past perfect has to do with the past and what it is is it really relates to a relationship that we have between two actions that happened in the past and the action that happened before the second action is the action in the past perfect so it's it means an activity that was completed before another one in the past and they're both done so right now we're in the present both activities are done completed finished what it is it really it's just a way a really specific way in English to show the relationship between these tenses so whenever we end up using the past perfect it means that that is the event that happened first so when you're using it in a sentence it's like saying look this is what happened first and then this other thing happened it's it just helps us be more specific so that's why I think this is a very very useful very useful lesson because English is kind of cool like that sometimes it allows you to convey a lot of information in just a little teeny-tiny tense if you get it right you will also sound a little I think you sound a little smarter too a little bit more fluent I think it's a it's it's kind of a very useful tense like that okay so when do we use this tense there's kind of two main times when we use it first when we're talking about a completed action before something that happened in the past like I mentioned or we can use it when we're talking about a duration something that kind of kept going but not continuous not not using the continuous tense just something that happened from like this time to this time and then it ended and then there was another event in the past that we are relating that to so please don't be confused I'm going to come back to this later I'm just kind of giving you an overview right now so what are we waiting for let's see what our tense looks like okay so I hope you guys like my timeline I'm very proud of it hi I love colors that I'm a very visual person and I or two because I think this really really helps with the past perfect so first of all as you can see my two exes what they represent is two events that happened in the past now we don't the events are not happening now okay so that as you can see my blue line is now these events already happened they're already completed they are finished they're done it's the first one the purple one is the one that happened first the green one is the one that happened after it as you can see the one that's closer to the present and the purple one is always going to be the past perfect always always always always it's the event that happened first that's when we use this tense so I have two sentences I'll read the first one he had studied English before he moved to London okay so we have this random person let's call him Jim because I've been watching The Office and it's in my mind so Jim Jim studied English first first event then he moved to London second event and now maybe he lives in London maybe he doesn't it doesn't matter it means that first he studied English and then he moved to London two events and we are learning about that relationship between the two of them he had studied English before he moved to London now I want to talk to you about how we are constructing it what how do we use it first of course you need a subject like he or Jim or whatever you want to say you wanna was a subject and then we need had had regardless of the the subject it's going to stay the same so whether I say I or he or you it's always going to be had and then we add the past participle in this case it's studied he had studied she had seen I had complained it's always going to have that past participle and then that's it that's the past that's the past perfect that's how we use it that's how we constructed okay and then of course the event in green is going to be simple past because it happened after so the it's it's like a past in the past kind of thing the sorry but my hands okay so another example is the second one right here I had never run a marathon before 2015 so as you can see the past perfect is marked in purple again that means that I it never happened I'd never run a marathon and then 2015 happened of course now it's 2018 so 2015 was before okay so I had never run a marathon before 2015 that is my example there okay so I hope that makes sense it's really it's not a very difficult test once you get the hang of it I think people because there's so many perfect tenses in English and people get confused I think I think that's part of why this says can be difficult but once you understand what it is and that it just shows the relationship between two tenses and one that happens earlier then we'll get to go then it makes sense okay let's see how let's see oh just one thing so I mentioned a few past participles before and here we have had studied head run or had never run now I want to actually do a very very quick quiz so I hope you guys are paying attention because past participle is so important in this lesson I'm going to quiz you on it so I hope you are ready and know your past participles they're super important okay so here's my quiz going to be longer but I want to explain it first I'm going to give you some verbs and then you have to actually write down the past participle so as an example I gave you here go and the past participle with the past perfect is had gone go had gone got it now I need you to write what is the past perfect of do let's see past perf perfect of do today had done had done good job so if you've written could had done then you are correct the next one is come let's see who gets it right come tada had come okay so if you guys insert head com great job wonderful work how about give we're getting a little bit more difficult maybe give let's see had given had given so if you answered had given you are you guys are doing great wonderful great job oops and the know it was on my screen I flashed it accidentally so I hope you know it but it was had known had known but you guys are doing amazing I see all these beautiful answers this is a great quiz now what I wanted to tell you is that if you didn't get these right or if you were thinking about them and you weren't sure about the answer I have some good / bad news the good news is that once you memorize these verbs then they're going to stay in your brain forever and the bad news is that you actually have to memorize them because the most common verbs in English are irregular so you just have to memorize them you have to memorize the the past and the past participle of these verbs and just kind of drill just say them again and again and again and make it a habit to just know them by heart so like I said this can be I think it's it's a good thing but also yeah it's just practice them and you'll know them so that's my not so fun tip but good good job you guys are doing great okay so coming back to when are we using the past perfect like I said it's a completed action before something in the past and here I have two sentences the first sentence is the movie had already started started when she got there just like I mentioned before first the movie started then she got there so you have that sequence of events and the press the past perfect is the one in purple just like before right head started when she got there now my second example I put it so that you see that it's not always going to be in a sentence you're not always going to have the past perfect show up before the other one sometimes it doesn't matter how what their order is in a sentence because the order of the events will be explained to you by the use of the past perfect so for example here we have she understood the movie because she had read the book so even though in our sentence we have genders to the movie first really the first event was she had read the book so obviously first she read the book then she saw the movie and she understood it and that's the order of the events so that's where the past perfect is going to be with the first event she had read the book okay so you you really have to pay attention and think about these but I think it's such a wonderful tool that you have your disposal is to use this past perfect and convey a lot of information in just one one tense it's kind of it's kind of wonderful okay and then another way to use it is like I mentioned before the duration before something in the past so if something happened happened happened happened for a long time and then another event happened that's when you can also use it so I'm giving them an example for me I had lived in California for 15 years before I moved back to Europe so the event that was continuous could like I had lived was a duration a period of time I lived in California I lived at the deadlift and then I moved to Europe and now I am here but I I don't have to be here because again these are completed actions okay so keep that in mind they have to be they're not related to the present they're in the past and my second sentence which is also it's also true which I'm sad about too is my grandmother was sad about selling the house because she had owned it for 17 years so that means that my grandmother owned the house for 70 years then she sold it and now it doesn't matter what happens now but those are the events she had owned it for seven years and then she was sad the past tense as you can see here shows up as a second action okay now very quickly I want to go over some adverbs because adverbs can be very very important with this test and I'm going to go over some common adverbs so you see them placed in the sentence so I have four that I'm going to talk to you about these are super common we see them all the time and they are the following the first one is just and just me is when something happened a short period of time before the other event so for example I have a sentence here I had just finished the project when the boss called me into his office which means I was working on my project I finished it and maybe like two minutes later my boss was like hey come into my office I have to talk to you about something so I just finished the project and you see this with this tense a lot I had just finished had just finished now another good one is yet and yet this means that something is expected to happen for example at the time of the deadline I hadn't finished my report yet I was expecting to finish it but I hadn't yet okay I hadn't finished my report yet already I think this one is probably the most common to be honest with all of these adverbs already is probably the most common something happened earlier so I had already eaten dinner by the time I Fred arrived so I II I ate dinner and then my friend arrived I already did it it's already completed so it happened early and still it means that something was not finished when we left for Paris we still hadn't booked a hotel room that means that when we left that action was not finished of booking a hotel room okay when we left for Paris we still hadn't booked a hotel room so just yet already and still are very very very common adverbs that come with this tense we see them all the time okay now now you've kind of learned when to use this tense I will say this in if you hear people speaking and you'll try to listen for the past tense when especially when we're telling stories I think then it's a good time to listen for this tense sometimes you hear people not use it and let me explain why this is and they'll just replace it with the with the past with a simple past instead and let me explain why that is because especially when we're referring to time and we're a frank like storytelling or something we use before or after which are probably by far the most used time markers so if you have before or after if you use before after when you are relating to two events you kind of don't need to use the past perfect because you know which event happens first and which one happens later that's the whole point of the past perfect is to determine this relationship between these two events so you don't really need to use it can you use it yes you can and it's correct but you don't have to so if you look at my two sentences right here Wes had left before you wanna got home like we talked about earlier had left because it's our past perfect tense it is correct to use it he had left that action is finished and then I got home so he had left it's fine but we can also say Wes left before you wanna got home because we are already informing our listener we are informing them of the sequence of events we're telling them look he left before this other event before I got home so keep that in mind that you especially if you're just learning this if you're listening for it and you you don't hear people use it and you might wonder like why isn't this person using the past perfect well it may be because it's before or after and they've already specified it so keep that in mind okay now that you know everything there is to know about the past perfect are you ready for a practice of course you are you guys are super students and you are going to do amazing so here is my practice okay so what I wanted to do in the comments right now I'm giving you two events and this is the order that the events are happening number one the first event is I left for work the second event is that the mailman knocked on the door what I want you to do is combine these sentences put them together using already and when okay put these sentences in one sentence put these events in one sentence together using already and when and obviously the past perfect okay so let's see how you guys are doing I want you to do it right now in the comments this is really good practice so the first event is I left for work the second event is the mailman knocked on the door let's see let's see how you guys are doing I love for work even number one which where is the past perfect go does it go with the first event or does it go with the second event did you guys pay attention do you remember what do you think okay so hopefully you answered I had already left for work when the mailman knocked on the door so let's talk about this if you if you were confused the first event like I told you was I left for work so that's where we use the past perfect I had already left I had already left for work and then the second we just used the the simple past when the mailman knocked on the door I had already left for work when the mailman knocked on the door so yeah you guys are doing really good exactly and you can even reverse it so I like what what some of you did when you wrote when the mailman knocked on the door I had already left for work that is also correct they can be reversed very good as long as you keep the past tense word the past perfect where it belongs okay ready for another one here he goes so you have two the same thing combine the two sentences and the events are in this order the first event everyone left the stadium the second event the soccer match ended so the first one what happen first is that everyone left the stadium what happened after is that the soccer match ended okay so keep that in mind when you combine your sentences and don't forget to use already and when okay so keep keep keep these events in mind I know a lot of you're probably thinking oh the the match ended and then everyone left no this is the other way first everyone left and then the soccer match ended so let's see how you guys are doing okay if you are still writing don't worry I'm sure you'll do great here is the correct sentence everyone had already left the stadium when the soccer match ended again we put the past perfect with the first event everyone had already left because that's the event that happened first maybe it was a bad game maybe the team was losing everyone was like we're out of here okay they had already left they went home they were I don't know where they were going but they had left the stadium when the soccer match ended there we go I have seeing some wonderful wonderful answers you guys are doing freaking amazing I am so proud of you you're killing this great job okay now we're going to make it I think a little bit more fun okay and the reason I say fun is because what I want you to do is complete the following sentence but use your own words your own experience your own whatever so I'm giving you here a way to complete a sentence so it says I had never mmm before I mmm so in a way I'm making it easier because I'm giving you the past perfect but I want you to think and it doesn't have to be true it will practicing whatever you think so what had you never done before hmm okay let's see what you guys have to say I had never before I mmm keep in mind to use the past participle correctly okay so let's see okay I hope you guys are doing well this is this is a lot of fun and of course now we're doing an isolated exercise you may seem easy keep practicing it's I think the difficulties with this tense come up when you're kind of in a conversation it's hard to remember wait where do I use the past perfect the more you practice the easier it becomes so tell us something that's true for you I had never done the past four feet before I got this class sure I had never traveled abroad before I learned English exactly so those are very very good good sentences you guys are doing great now I'll give you an example sentence of why you could say this is just my example obviously your examples are going to be different because we have different experiences for me I had never had Ethiopian food before I moved to LA okay I had never had Ethiopian food okay I if you know me you know that I love you Theo pian food is my favorite food in the world and I had never had it I the first time I had it was in LA so that is my example sentence you're obviously going to have different ones you guys are doing amazing I love looking at all of these examples sentences great now another practice you also have to complete the sentence with your own words when I hmm someone else had already hmm okay so again if you can't think of something that actually happened to you make it up I don't mind I just I'm just here for the practice so make sure you practice it when I mmm someone else had already hmm okay keep in mind to use the correct past participle and there's an already in there so pay attention that should be a clue when I someone else had already what I'll show you mine and then my example sentence and while you guys are writing or what you think about it for example again I don't even think this is true I just I just this is just something I thought about when I called the restaurant someone else had already made a reservation maybe was a birthday party who knows but when I called the restaurant someone else had already made a reservation so they made a reservation first that was the first event and the second event is that I called a restaurant make sense you guys are doing you guys are doing great when I came home someone else had already been there exactly yes so you guys that that is amazing so you're doing I think you're doing really well I think something to keep in mind like I said with this tense is that is that it can get tricky when you're kind of telling a story and you don't remember but the more you practice the easier it will come to you I promise it's again like like I said before it's a test that when you use it correctly you sound more fluent you sound more professional I would say I think it just sounds a little better I've always thought oh this person really knows how to use their tenses when you when you use the past perfect correctly so please don't be afraid of it use it it's very very it just it's a good tense and it it gives us all this information in just one one tense so don't be afraid of it now that you're rock stars at it so I wanted to thank you everyone for watching thank you for participating you guys did a great job Giselle Christiana QRF Francisco jr. guys who think you thank you thank you for joining us today I hope you have a wonderful Saturday or just a great day in general if you found this lesson useful please like it and share join our social media classes we have a lot of really great questions a really great content out there and thank you see you guys next time

Channel: Interactive English

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Keywords: interactive english, learn english, fun english lesson, advanced english lesson, intermediate english lesson, Practice English, english grammar lesson, common grammar problems, learn english grammar, intermediate grammar lesson, advanced grammar lesson, fun grammar lesson, practice english grammar, aprender gramática inglesa, practice using present perfect, past perfect, how to use the past perfect, learn past perfect, past perfect verb tense, learn grammar past perfect

Id: Jnw9SYABhJU

Length: 28min 56sec (1736 seconds)

Published: Sat May 05 2018