Understanding Past Perfect Tense

hey thanks for joining me for this grammar topic where today we are going to look at the past perfect in this video I'm going to talk about two things one what is the past perfect why do we need it and two how to make the past perfect using the formula with lots of examples throughout so let's begin what is the past perfect well we use this tense aspect to describe one out of two events or more that began in the past and finished in the past if we talk about two events that happened in the past then we use this aspect to make very clear which event happen first for example I had washed the dishes when Carol came into the kitchen we know from this example that washing the dishes came first it was after the dishes were washed but Carol came into the kitchen her coming into the kitchen was the second event let's now look at the same sentence in the simple past to compare I washed the dishes when Carol came into the kitchen now which event happened first was it washing the dishes or Carol coming into the kitchen if you said Carol came in first then you are correct by using the simple past for both events we can assume that Carol came in first and then I washed the dishes but when we say I had washed the dishes when Carol came into the kitchen we know instantly that washing the dishes came first I did this before Carol came in so we use the past perfect when two or more events began and finished in the past the past perfect tells us which event came first let's compare another two examples Scott polished his car when his dad came home hmm which event came first did Scott polish his car first or did his dad come home first both events here are in the simple past and because they are we can assume that Scott polished his car after his dad came home his dad came home first this was the first event now let's look at the same example using the past perfect Scot had polished his car when his dad came home we know instantly through the use of the past perfect that the first event was polishing the car Scott did this first and then his dad came home so let's now look at the formula we start with the subject plus hand plus the past participle subject had past participle to help make this clear let's compare all the past tense aspects starting with the simple past Sarah made coffee before the meeting started continuous past Sarah was making coffee when the meeting started the perfect past Sarah had made coffee and went to the meeting perfect continuous past Sarah had been making coffee before the meeting started why do we use each past tense to answer this question let's look at each sentence again on a timeline starting with the simple past Sarah made coffee before the meeting started the act of making coffee is finished it's completed it's over done the continuous past Sarah was making coffee when the meeting started the emphasis here is on time but it also shows that the meeting in this case interrupted her coffee making in other words she had to stop making coffee to go to the meeting the perfect past Sarah had made coffee and went to the meeting this tells us that making coffee came first and the meeting came second the eat the first event was making coffee the second event was going to the meeting the perfect past tells us the order of events as they happened in the past and particularly if there is more than two events this is really why we use it perfect continuous past Sarah had been making coffee before the meeting started this emphasizes the process and that the process itself took some time let's look at some more examples of the past perfect Jamie hadn't seen such beautiful mountains before he went to Switzerland Belinda had lived in her house for more than twenty years when she was asked to move I couldn't pay for the groceries because I had left my wallet in the car Lucy had skied only a couple of times before she fell off her skis we used the past perfect for the earlier event in the past and we use the simple past for all other events all that had happened in the past let's look at these sentences one more time Jaime hadn't seen such beautiful mountains before he went to Switzerland the first event in this sentence is Jaime never saw such beautiful mountains and the second event was his trip to Switzerland Belinda had lived in her house for more than twenty years when she was asked to move and the first event was Belinda living in her house for twenty years or more the second event was she had to move I couldn't pay for the groceries because I had left my wallet in the car the first event here was leaving my wallet in the car the second event was not being able to pay for the groceries Lucy had skied only a couple of times before she fell off her skis the first event was Lucy only having skied twice the second event was falling off her skis and there you have it stay tuned for more on this tense aspect see you in the next grammar video shortly don't miss out if you haven't already click Subscribe I'm Larissa bye for now

Channel: English Resource Lab - Erlkis

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Keywords: english grammar, learn english online, how to improve english, erlkisabc, english tips, english tutorials, how to use english, erlkis, english resource lab, english test, past perfect tense, perfect past tense, english tenses, aspects, Part 1: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense

Id: jyKVlbdM6Co

Length: 11min 10sec (670 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 27 2016