Hi guys! I'm Arnel and today we're
going to look at the past perfect and I'll answer some of the most common
questions you have about this tense. You know, we can't speak about the
past perfect without looking at the past simple. So in today's lesson
you're going to see a lot of both. So let's start with the basics, and i will
get more specific as the lesson continues. You can see here I have two verbs I have
a regular verb and an irregular verb. To form the past simple we need verb
number two. For example, I walked to work. For the past perfect we need had plus the past
participle verb number three, I had walked to work. The good news is when it comes to the past simple
and the past perfect, the verb forms never change. So it doesn't matter what your subject is. I, you,
he, she, it. The verb forms always stay the same. I'd walked. You'd walked. He'd, she'd, it'd, they'd, we'd. If
you want to sound natural, contract. And be careful! If you see I'd plus the infinitive, verb number
one, you know I'd is I would. I would walk to work. If you have that past participle, it's had,
I had walked to work. So would has nothing to do with the past perfect, but I just wanted to
show you that I'd can mean I had or I would. To contract the negative: I hadn't,
you hadn't, he hadn't, she hadn't etc... Is it possible to contract differently?
Can i say, I'd not walked to work? Yes you can say that, it's correct, but hadn't
is more common. I hadn't walked to work. Here i have two timelines. They're both
in the past, not the present, the past. I was surprised that someone
had organized my desk for me. I opened my fridge and saw that my
roommate had eaten a piece of my cake. Can you find the past simple? First
sentence, was. Surprise looks like a verb, it's an adjective. In my second sentence,
opened and saw. Can you find the past perfect? Had organized, had eaten. Two actions, three actions.
Which action happened first? Had organized, and then I was surprised. Had eaten,
and then I opened my fridge, and then I saw this. We use the past perfect to speak about an earlier
past, a past before another past. The past perfect is always the first action. It doesn't matter if
the past perfect comes first in your sentence, or later on, everyone knows the past perfect
happened first. Let's do a little comparison. When i got home my cat ate her food. Meow meow. When I got home my cat had eaten her food. The two
sentences look very similar. In my first sentence it's clear that first I got home, and then my cat
ate dinner. But the past perfect is very powerful... In the second sentence, first, my
cat ate her dinner, then I got home. So, why do we do this? Why do we have this past before the past? There are
actually three common reasons. Number one: We're describing an action or
situation that happened up to another point in time. By the time Georgina was seven,
she had been to five countries. Until Paula met Bruce, she had never been in love. Number two: We're explaining a past situation using
an earlier past. I didn't want to watch the movie. Why? Because i had already seen it. Carol didn't know what to do. Why? Because she hadn't received instructions
from her boss. Hadn't, noticed the contraction. Number three: To show surprise. I woke up and saw that someone
had drawn a mustache on my face . What's a mustache? A mustache
is one of these! Yesterday i had an appointment with my accountant, I was an hour late. By the time I arrived, my
accountant had had three espressos, that's a lot. Had had. Had had. HAD HAD!?!? How do we form the past perfect?
Had plus past participle. Double had. I was in a terrible mood because
I had had a terrible day. Wait wait wait wait! Because I'd had a terrible day. And a lot of times you won't even notice
the, had had, because of that contraction. So yes, had had does exist and is perfectly correct . Do I always need the past
perfect with the past simple? No, you need a past reference point,
this could be the past continuous. Elena was crying in the bathroom because
someone had made fun of her clothes. We see she was crying, before that,
someone had made fun of her clothes. So the past perfect must be used with
another action, it cannot be used alone. And you might not remember
but earlier in the lesson I said: the past perfect must be used with
another action, it cannot be used alone. Let's take a look at a mini conversation: Well, the client wants a full refund. A refund
is when you need to give all the money back because a client or a customer is not happy.
Why? You delivered the project two weeks late. Two weeks late? But we'd already agreed
on that, he knew we needed more time! Here you can see, we'd already agreed on that, is
alone in the sentence - but in the context of the conversation there's a connection. Now in the
present, the client wants a refund. Before that, the project was delivered. Before
that we'd already agreed on something. So sometimes someone will show me a sentence
and ask, why is the past perfect used? Is it correct? I don't know, I need a bit more information. So if you're watching a movie, or you're reading
something, listening to a podcast, and you hear the past perfect - try to connect it to something else
in the past, because there's a reason it's used. Let's get even more specific. After we'd eaten breakfast, we left for our trip. We'd eaten breakfast before we left for our trip.
We'd eaten breakfast and then we left for our trip. After, before, and then. I think those words
already make the sequence clear don't they? In these sentences they all mean the same thing,
I'm just using different vocabulary. When you get sentences like this with before, after and then.
The sequence is already clear, the past perfect is optional. I could also use the past simple,
that's fine. After we ate breakfast, we left for our trip. We ate breakfast before we left for our trip.
We ate breakfast and then, we left for our trip. When the sequence of events is
already clear, we don't need the past perfect. And in spoken English
especially, we like to simplify things. My husband and i went to a fancy restaurant for
our anniversary. We had a main course and a dessert. We also ordered an appetizer. Hey, wait a second!
We also ordered an appetizer? Doesn't she mean, we HAD also ordered an appetizer,
because it came before the main course? So, let's look at that vocabulary. If you go to
a nice restaurant, the appetizer is always the first thing you have. So even though I said, we
also ordered an appetizer, it's clear it came before the main course, before the dessert.
Nobody orders an appetizer after dessert. I know the past perfect can be confusing. Actually,
it's really easy, it's the past before the other past. Oh well, the past perfect is also used in
reported speech, the third conditional and wish. Don't worry, you do not need to
know all of these structures today. But it's good to see them. Reported
speech: I left work early yesterday. Bill told me that he'd left work early yesterday.
We use the past perfect to report the past simple. Third conditional: If I had checked my schedule
more carefully, i wouldn't have missed the meeting. You can check out my conditional video here. Wish. I wish i had apologized to Michael. Use wish
plus past perfect to speak about a past regret. Can you give me any examples? Let
me know in the comments below of something you did before something else you
did. I can't wait to see you soon, thank you bye!
