El pasado perfecto

Introducción

Se usa el pasado perfecto para describir:

acciones que terminaron antes que otra acción u otro suceso pasados
hechos o experiencias que eran verdad antes de una acción o evento pasados.

Ejemplos:

They had taken many French lessons by the time they moved to France.
Fueron a Francia en el pasado. Antes de ir, tomaron clases de francés.
I hadn't eaten Mexican food before I went to Mexico last August.
Comí comida mexicana por primera vez cuando fui a México en agosto del año pasado.

Forma

Se forma el perfecto pasado/pluscuamperfecto con "had" + el participio pasado:

Positivo	I / You / We / They He / She / It	'd had	been	there before.
Negativo		hadn't had not

interrogativo

Had

I / you / we / they
he / she / it

been

there before?

Ejemplos

I had been to Thailand twice before I got a job there.
Conseguí un trabajo en Tailandia en el pasado. Estuve en Tailandia dos veces antes de eso.
He hadn’t heard Mozart’s music when he bought the tickets for the concert.
Él no había escuchado música de Mozart antes de comprar las entradas para el concierto.
Had they read the book before they saw the film?
Vieron la película en el pasado. ¿Habían leído el libro antes de verla?

Práctica

Complete las frases con la forma afirmativa, negativa o interrogativa del pasado perfecto del verbo entre paréntesis:

.

1)

I to see him at the party last night but he wasn’t there. (expect)

2)

They that it was raining when they left the house. (not realise)

3)

he the company before he went for the interview? (research)

4)

They didn’t receive my letter because I it to the wrong address. (send)

Más práctica

Complete las frases con la respuesta correcta de a, b, c ó d:
.

1)

We ____ to go to China for many years before we went last summer.

'd wanted

had want

had wants

has wanted

2)

She ____ him for many years before they got married.

had knew

'd know

'd knew

had known

3)

They didn’t buy a map because they ____ there many times before.

'd being

had being

'd been

has been

4)

____ the ending of the film before it finished?

Had you guessed

You guessed had

You had guessed

Had guessed you

5)

She hadn’t ____ any French before she went to France.

spoken

spoke

speak

speaks

6)

____ before the meeting started?

Had they prepare

They'd prepare

They had prepared

Had they prepared

Más aspectos lingüisticos:

Se usa el pasado perfecto con "ever" / "never" para describir acciones o situaciones del sujeto en un momento determinado en el pasado (usamos el presente perfecto para describir acciones o situaciones del sujeto ocurridas hasta el presente):