Present perfect and past perfect
Past perfect simple
with time expressions before, after, untilb1+
Past perfect simple with time expressions
Grammar contents
- After the exams had finished, they had a party.
- When we'd done the washing-up, we watched TV.
- Mum phoned before she'd heard the news.
- The party couldn't start until Kate had arrived.
- We hadn't tried a house swap until this summer.
For more information on forms of the past perfect (simple), see Past perfect simple.
| Time expression | past perfect | past simple |
|---|---|---|
| After | the exams had finished, | they had a party. |
| When | we'd done the washing-up, | we watched TV. |
| Past simple | time expression | past perfect |
| They had a party | after | the exams had finished. |
| We arrived | before | the train had left (or left). |
| The party couldn't start | until | Kate had arrived. |
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 use the past perfect with the past simple when we talk about two actions or events in the past. We always use the past perfect for the action that happened first. We can link the two actions using a time expression.
after
We use after + past perfect to talk about an action that happened before something else.
- After the exams had finished, they had a party. (The exams finished, and then they had a party.)
- We had dinner after Mum had phoned. (Mum phoned, and then we had dinner.)
when
We use when + past perfect to talk about an action that happened immediately before something else …
- When we'd done the washing-up, we watched TV. (We did the washing-up, and then we watched TV.)
… or we can use when + past simple to talk about an action that happened after something else.
- When I phoned the office, Emma had already left. (Emma left the office, and then I phoned.)
before
We can use before with past simple OR past perfect to talk about an action that happened before something else.
- We arrived just before the plane doors closed.
- Luckily, we arrived before the plane doors had closed.
until
We can use past simple negative + until + past perfect to talk about an action that didn't happen before something else happened first.
- The party couldn't start until Kate had arrived. (Kate arrived, and then the party could start.)
We can also use the past perfect negative + until to talk about something which didn't happen before a particular time in the past.
- They hadn't had a foreign holiday until this summer.
Grammar contentsView all
Present perfect and past perfect
Quantifiers, possessives and demonstratives