Past perfect exercises: 5 sets with answers, A2–B2

Past perfect: how it works

The past perfect (had + past participle) shows that one past action happened before another past action or time: When we arrived, the film had started. It often appears with when, by the time, already and before, and in reported speech and third conditionals. If the order is already clear, the past simple is often enough.

Common mistakes

1. 1

   Wrong: When I arrived, the train already left.

   Right: → When I arrived, the train had already left.

   Use had + participle for the earlier action.

2. 2

   Wrong: I had went there before.

   Right: → I had gone there before.

   Use the past participle: gone.

3. 3

   Wrong: Yesterday I had visited my aunt.

   Right: → Yesterday I visited my aunt.

   A single past event needs the past simple.

4. 4

   Wrong: If I knew, I would have told you.

   Right: → If I had known, I would have told you.

   The third conditional needs the past perfect.

Related grammar topics

1. 1

   Past simple

   15 sets
2. 2

   Past simple and past continuous

   7 sets
3. 3

   Conditionals

   16 sets
4. 4

   Reported speech

   12 sets