Past perfect simple | Free practice exercises

Present perfect and past perfect

Past perfect simple

affirmative, negative, yes/no, wh- questionsb1+

Past perfect simple When we arrived at the station, the train had just left.Sam was disappointed because he hadn't won.The door was open. Had someone been there before me?I didn't understand it. Why had this happened to me?We form the past perfect (simple) with:Subject + had/hadn't + past participleThe form is the same for all persons.Positive (+) and Negative (-)Subjectauxiliarypast participle+Ihadpassedthe test.-Shehadn'tseenthe film before.Questions (?)Question wordauxiliarysubjectpast participleHadshepassedthe test?Wherehadtheyseenthe film before?We can answer yes/no questions with short answers.‘Had she passed the test?’ ‘Yes, she had.’‘Had you seen the film before?’ ‘No, I hadn't.’We use the past perfect to talk about an action or an event that happened before something else in the past.We arrived too late. The train had just left the station. (The train left the station first, and then we arrived.)We also use the past perfect to talk about an action or event that happened before a particular time in the past.I had stayed in the same hotel twice before (= before the time that I am thinking about).We can use because + past perfect to explain a situation or give a reason.I was happy because I'd finally passed my driving test!Emma didn't come to the cinema because she'd seen the film before. We can use questions in the past perfect to ask for an explanation or the reason for something, especially when we are telling a story.The door was open. Had someone been there before me?I didn't understand it. Why had this happened to me?

Complete the text with the past perfect form of the verbs from the box and the words in brackets. Use short forms (I've), not full forms (I have).

bookcyclegogohearhopenot expectnot plannot noticereadsee

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Adventures in Ecuador
Last year I went to Ecuador. It was amazing! I

(never) anywhere like it. Of course, I

lots of guidebooks and I

lot of photos online, but I

it to be so beautiful.
I went with my sister Hannah. I

my friend Emma would come too, but unfortunately she decided it was too expensive. She

(already) to South America a few times anyway.
First, we went to Papallacta, which is a hotel up in the Andes with natural hot baths. I

how tired I was until I relaxed in that hot water! Then, we went to Mindo, which is in the cloud forest. It was full of the most amazing plants, flowers, birds and insects. I

(never) of half of them before! Unfortunately, we

(only) two nights at Mindo, so we didn't have very long there. After Mindo, we had a brilliant day on Mount Cotapaxi, a volcano. We

to do this, but then, when we were back in Quito, we saw an advertisement for bike tours and we decided to do it. A truck took us and the bikes up to the top, and then we cycled all the way down. It was a few years since I

anywhere so I went quite slowly at first!