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Hello, welcome to 6 Minute Grammar with me, Rob.
And me, Catherine. Hello.
Today we're talking about the past perfect tense.
Yes, the past perfect. When we want to talk about two things that happened at different times in the past, we can use the past perfect tense.
And that's a subject with had plus the past participle.
And here's Harry with our first example.
Mary rang John's doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.
And let's hear that again.
Mary rang John's doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.
Thanks, Harry. Now, we could put these two events in the past simple tense, something like this.
John went to work, then Mary rang John's doorbell.
And once again, Harry. John went to work, then Mary rang John's doorbell.
Or we can change the order of events in the sentence and use the past perfect.
That's hard with a past participle to show which event actually happened first.
Mary rang John's doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.
And once again. Mary rang John's doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.
And here the past perfect in John had gone shows that this happened before the past simple phrase, Mary rang John's doorbell.
So we have Mary rang John's doorbell at 8.15 yesterday, but John had gone to work.
Exactly. Now let's look at some more examples.
I was pleased when I got a text from Jim because I'd lost his number.
Let's hear that again. I was pleased when I got a text from Jim because I'd lost his number.
So we've got two past events.
First, Harry lost Jim's number, then he got his text.
But in Harry's sentence, he got his text.
Then he got his text. But in Harry's sentence, the event that happened first in time is mentioned second in the sentence.
So he uses the past perfect, I'd lost his number, to show that the second event he mentions actually happened first.
I was pleased when I got a text from Jim because I'd lost his number.
Now in spoken English, the past perfect can sometimes be difficult to hear.
Yes, that's true. In our example just now, the two words I had are shortened to I'd.
I'd lost his number. So had is shortened to just a d sound.
Listen out for the short d sound in this next example.
When Mrs Brown opened the washing machine, she realised she'd washed her phone.
And again. When Mrs Brown opened the washing machine, she realised she'd washed her phone.
Did he catch that? First, Mrs Brown washed her phone in the washing machine.
Oh dear. Then she opened the washing machine.
Then she realised she'd washed her phone.
Yes, and the phrase she had washed is shortened to she'd washed.
One more time please, Harry.
When Mrs Brown opened the washing machine, she realised she'd washed her phone.
Oops, that's an expensive mistake.
Poor Mrs Brown. Yes, you won't do that again.
Six Minute Lump from bbclearningenglish.com Now for a quiz.
I'm going to say some sentences and as you listen, try to decide what happened first and what happened second.
Here's the first one. I woke up late because I'd forgotten to set the alarm.
OK, so the past perfect here is I'd forgotten and the order of events was first I forgot to set the alarm and second I woke up late.
Here it is again. I woke up late because I'd forgotten to set the alarm.
Great. Another one. I hadn't brought a towel so I couldn't have a shower.
That's quite embarrassing.
OK, and we've got the negative of had which is hadn't.
So first I didn't bring a towel and second I couldn't have a shower.
Here it is again. I hadn't brought a towel so I couldn't have a shower.
Good, and for the last one, when they got to the station they realised they'd left the tickets at home.
So the last one has three events.
First, they left the tickets at home.
Second, they got to the station and third, they realised the tickets were at home.
Yes, and the past perfect phrase they had left was shortened to they'd left, which helps us show the order.
When they got to the station, they realised they'd left the tickets at home.
The last thing people sometimes make with the past perfect is they use it too much or they use it just because they're talking about something that happened a long time ago, such as...
Jackie had gone to a football match last month.
Yes, there's only one past event here so we probably just need the past symbol tense.
Jackie went to a football match last month.
That's the past perfect.
It's made of had plus the past participle and we mainly use it to talk about a past event that happened before another past event.
There's more about this on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.
Join us again for more Six Minute Grammar.
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