General English Level 4 Version 2.1 © 2004 acl Pty Ltd GELEV4 Unit 04 Topic 04.doc  LANGUAGE FOCUS 02 The past perfect tense In this activity you are going to learn how to use the past perfect tense. The storyteller says: Dieter ran off and as soon as he had disappeared from sight, Hans felt very lonely. In sentences about the past with more than one action or event, we need to show clearly which action or event happened first. We use different tenses to do this. We use the past perfect to show the first action or event (1) and the past simple to show the second action (2). Dieter ran off and as soon as he had disappeared (1) from sight, Hans felt (2) very lonely. Look ….……..…….………………past………………………………… now (1) past perfect (2) past simple When Dieter had disappeared, Hans felt very lonely. Look We make the past perfect with had (the past simple of have) + the past participle. I You He/She/It We They had ’d noticed the butterfly. We make the negative form of the past perfect like this: I You He/She/It We They had ‘d not n’t not worked since yesterday. 141