PAST PERFECT Definition & Meaning

past perfect

noun

Grammar.

pluperfect.

past perfect

adjective

denoting a tense of verbs used in relating past events where the action had already occurred at the time of the action of a main verb that is itself in a past tense. In English this is a compound tense formed with had plus the past participle

noun

1. the past perfect tense
2. a verb in this tense

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of past perfect¹

First recorded in 1885–90

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Mueller actually said, “If we had had confidence” — an entirely correct and appropriate usage of the past perfect, an English tense hardly anyone uses in conversation and most people apparently cannot even hear.

From

“I’ve only gone as far as the past perfect tense in my French book.”

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Soon we were flying past perfect rows of citrus trees, and that glorious scent was in the air.

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Has it reversed itself into the past perfect tense?

From

Would we then have a present on our hands that was, at best, past perfect?

From

past participle past progressive

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