Form: past perfect
had + past participle
The past perfect is formed with had + the past participle form of the verb.
Affirmative
| Subject | Auxiliary | Verb (past participle) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I You He/She/It We You They |
had | arrived | by then. |
The following contracted forms are often used in spoken and in informal written language:
I had » I'd
you had » you'd
he/she/it had » he'd/she'd/it'd
we had » we'd
you had » you'd
they had » they'd
Negative
| Subject | Auxiliary | not | Verb (past participle) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I You He/She/It We You They |
had | not | arrived | by then. |
The contracted form hadn't is often used instead of had not in spoken and in informal written language.
Interrogative
| (Question word) | Auxiliary | Subject | Verb (past participle) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Why) | had | I you he/she/it we you they |
arrived | by then? |
