How to form the past perfect
The past perfect is very similar to the present perfect: the auxiliary verb "have" goes one step back in time and becomes had.
Present Perfect → Past Perfect
I have gone → I had gone
he has taken → he had taken
we have seen → we had seen
they have used → they had used
How to form the past perfect
We build the past perfect using the auxiliary verb "had" and the past participle of the main verb:
had + past participle
| Positive and negative | ||
|---|---|---|
| I/you/he/she/it/we/they | had ('d) had not (hadn't) |
talked finished done taken ... |
| Question | ||
|---|---|---|
| Had | I/you/he/she/it/we/they | talked finished done taken ... |
Past participle
Regular verbs form the past participle by adding -ed to the infinitive form — exactly like in the past simple.
play — played — played
want — wanted — wanted
finish — finished — finished
Irregular verbs have their unique past participle. If you look at the table of the irregular verbs, you'll find it in the third column. You must remember it.