Introduction

Introdução

The past perfect is a verb tense which is used to show that an action took place once or many times before another point in the past.

O past perfect é um tempo verbal usado para mostrar que uma ação ocorreu uma ou muitas vezes antes de outro ponto no passado.

Forms

Forms

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two partes: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.

O Past Perfect tense em inglês é composto de duas partes: o past tense do verbo to have (had) + o past participle do verbo principal.

Affirmative

S + had + V3/-ed.

We had asked.

Negative

S + had not / hadn’t + V3/-ed.

We hadn’t asked.

Interrogative

Had + S + V3/-ed?

Had they arrived?

Example: to decide

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I had decided	I hadn’t decided	Had I decided?
You had decided	You hadn’t decided	Had you decided?
He, she, it had decided	He hadn’t decided	Had she decided?
We had decided	We hadn’t decided	Had we decided?
You had decided	You hadn’t decided	Had you decided?
They had decided	They hadn’t decided	Had they decided?

Past perfect, function

Past perfect, função

The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that on event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first – the tense makes it clear which one happened first.

O past perfect se refere a um tempo anterior ao agora. É usado para deixar claro que um evento aconteceu antes de outro no passado. Não importa qual evento é mencionado primeiro - o tempo deixa claro qual aconteceu primeiro.