Forming the Past Perfect Tense

In the use of past perfect tense, it does not matter which event is mentioned first as long as the pattern of forming the past perfect tense of the verb is observed. The past perfect tense is formed by using the past form of the auxiliary verb have, which is had + past participle form of the verb. Refer to the following table:

Past form of auxiliary verb “have”	Past participle form of the verb
had	heard traveled spoken known flown

The past perfect tense of the verb is used in the positive, negative, and the question forms in sentences. Look at the following examples:

Positive Form

Singular Form		Plural Form
I you he she	had realized	we you they	had realized

Negative Form

Singular	Auxiliary Verb and Adverb	Shortened	Past Participle
I	had not	hadn’t	thought
you he, she
Plural	Auxiliary Verb and Adverb	Shortened	Past Participle
we you they	had not	hadn’t	thought

Question Form

Singular	Plural
Had I thought…?	Had we thought…?
Had you thought…?	Had you thought…?
Had he/she thought…?	Had they thought…?