Hi, I'm Larry. This is my friend Judy. >> Hi, Larry and
I have a lot of fun together. Yesterday we watched a movie,
the newest remake of Cinderella. >> Actually,
we only saw the second half of the movie. The movie started at 7:00. We arrived at 7:45. We were really late. >> Sorry about that, buddy. That was totally my fault,
but we'll get to that later. For now, can you complete this sentence? When we arrived, the movie started. Or when we arrived, the movie had started. If you say a, started,
the movie started after we arrived. Maybe we arrived at 7:00, and
the movie started at 7:45. We were not late at all. In fact, we were quite early. But, that's not true. We were late. The answer is b, had started. Do you know what verb tense this is? This is the past perfect tense. What are the two parts? Here's a hint. Look at our sample sentence again. When we arrived, the movie had started. The past perfect tense is formed with the
helping verb had plus the past participle of the main verb. In this case, it is had started. Notice the had is often pronounced hood,
hood started. The past perfect means
that this happened first. The movie started first,
and then we arrived. We use the past perfect to clearly
show that once past event happened before another past event. It's like the past before the past. It is possible to change the clause order. The movie had started when we arrived. The sentence looks different,
but the time order, the movie started first,
we arrived later, is the same. To make the negative,
we can add not after had. For example,
the movie hadn't ended when we arrived. We missed the first half of the movie,
but I still enjoyed the second half. When the time order is clear, it is usually wrong to use
the past perfect tense. It would be confusing if we told all
of our stories in the past perfect. For example,
we had watched a movie yesterday. We had been late to the theater,
but I had enjoyed the movie. Instead, we simply use
the past simple tense. We watched a movie yesterday. We were late to the theater,
but I enjoyed the movie anyway. A common exception to this rule is,
by the time, a phrase that pretty much means before. When we use this phrase,
the time order is clear, but we almost always use the past perfect. For example, by the time we got
here all of the seats had filled. Larry and I had to stand in the back
of the theater to watch the movie. Notice by the time can be specified,
for example, 7:45. By 7:45, all seats had filled. Let's review,
the past perfect consists of two parts, had plus the past participle
of the main verb. It means that this happened first. Can you guess why Larry and
I were late yesterday? >> We were late to the theater because a,
she had left the movie tickets at home, and we had to drive back to get them. B, we had gotten lost while driving to
the theater from the restaurant where we had dinner. Or c. >> He had wanted to watch an action flick,
not a romance movie, so we were arguing about
which movie to watch. >> The answer is the first one of course. Judy had forgotten to bring the tickets. >> Yep, it was totally my fault. I'm such a scatterbrain. Next time, Larry, you hold the tickets,
and you pick the movie, any movie you want.
