Past Perfect

Past Perfect Verb Conjugation
The Past Perfect is formed this way:

subject + had + past participle.The conjugation is fairly simple. Only the subject changes. Here are some examples of past perfect tense verbs with I, you, he/she/it, they and we.
1. I had talked. I had walked. I had danced. I had eaten.

2. You had talked. You had walked. You had danced. You had eaten.

3. She/He/It had talked. She/He/It had walked. She/He/It had danced. She/He/It had eaten.

4. They had talked. They had walked. They had danced. They had eaten.

5. We had talked. We had walked. We had danced. We had eaten.

Past Perfect Verb Form (five forms the ESL student must learn)
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She had studied simple tenses before she studied the Past Perfect.)

2. Negative Usage (e.g., She had left by the time I arrived at the party.)

3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Had she played tennis before?)

4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she had. No, she hadn't.)

5. WH- Questions (e.g., When had she studied the Past Perfect Continuous?)

Past Perfect Function
The Past Perfect is used to talk about an activity that was completed before another activity or time in the past. There will always be two past events or activities, or an event/activity and a particular time in the past. They don't both need to be included in the same sentence. Sometimes the other event/activity or time will be understood from the context of the conversation.
Here are some examples:

I had already gone to bed by the time you got home.

She had studied English for six months before she left for the U.S.

He had finished dessert before I even started my entrée.

Her older brother had finished college before she started high school.

You'll notice that the Simple Past is used in the second part of the sentences. These sentences could also be written without using the Past Perfect, like this:

I went to bed before you got home.

She studied English for six months before she left for the U.S.

He finished dessert before I even started my entrée.

Her older brother finished college before she started high school.

 

Special Thanks to:
Source:
www.teaching-esl-to-adults.com