Vbj2

THE PAST PERFECT TENSE

SIMPLE / INDEFINITE
The Past Perfect Simple / Indefinite is a past tense which expresses a past action
happening at a moment or over a period of time before another past action (the point of reference
is the past). It expresses a relationship of anteriority.
Past

NOW

Past Perfect
He didnt buy bread. He paid for the eggs and milk. Then he remembered the bread.
After he had paid for the eggs and milk, he remembered he hadnt bought bread.
The Past Perfect is usually translated into Romanian by MAI-MULT-CA-PERFECT, a
tense of the indicative with exactly the same morphological value:
He had already left when I got to his office.
(Plecase deja cnd am ajuns la el la birou.)
But in Romanian the values of the temporal relationship (anteriority, posteriority) are not
expressed by observing some definite rules of temporal sequence. As a result, we may use
PERFECT COMPUS in a sentence expressing temporal anteriority, the same as in the main clause.
Once I had met him, I understood we would be good friends.
(De ndat ce l-am cunoscut, am neles c vom fi buni prieteni.)
After they had looked it over carefully, they decided to buy the property.
(Dup ce au examinat-o atent, au hotrt s cumpere proprietatea.)
In Reported Speech, the Past Perfect is used to replace a Direct Speech Present Perfect or
Past Tense, after a reporting verb in the past.
He said, I have seen a wonderful movie.
He said he had seen a wonderful movie.
She asked, Did you have a good time?
She asked whether we had had a good time.
PAST PERFECT PATTERNS
Affirmative
The Past Perfect is formed with the auxiliary to have in the Past Tense and the verb in the
Past Participle.
SUBJECT + Aux. HAVE
+
VERB
(Past Tense)
(Past Participle)
I had flown

Id flown
you had flown
youd flown
he had flown

hed flown
we had flown
wed flown
you had flown
youd flown
they had flown theyd flown

Negative
The negative form inserts the negation not between the auxiliary to have and the verb.
SUBJECT + Aux. HAVE + NOT +
VERB
(Past Tense)
(Past Participle)
I had not caught

Id not caught / I hadnt caught

you had not caught
youd not caught / you hadnt caught
he had not caught

hed not caught / he hadnt caught

we had not caught

wed not caught / we hadnt caught

you had not caught
youd not caught / you hadnt caught
they had not caught
theyd not caught / they hadnt caught
Interrogative
In the interrogative the structure involves inversion between the subject and the auxiliary
to have.
Aux. HAVE + SUBJECT + VERB
?
(Past Tense)
(Past Participle)
had I stayed?
had we stayed?
had you stayed?
had you stayed?
had they stayed?
had they stayed?
(There is no short form for the interrogative.)
Interrogative-negative
The interrogative-negative uses the inversion between the subject and the auxiliary to
have and also the negation not, inserted between the subject and the verb in the Past Participle.
The short form uses the conjunct form of the auxiliary and the negation.
Aux. HAVE + SUBJECT + NOT + VERB
?
(Past Tense)
(Past Participle)
Aux. HAVE + NOT
(Past Tense)
had I not wept?

had you not wept?

had he not wept?

had we not wept?

had you not wept?

had they not wept?

+ SUBJECT

+ VERB
?
(Past Participle)
hadnt I wept?
hadnt you wept?
hadnt he wept?
hadnt we wept?
hadnt you wept?
hadnt they wept?

Further examples:
When he came home, his wife had long ceased to wait for him and was fast asleep.
After Anne had written and mailed the letter, she started to feel sorry and tried to get it
back from the post-office.
I explained that the train had been late, that was why I had been unable to keep my
appointment.
By the end of the year they had moved into their new flat, which had been specially
decorated by a designer.

It was twenty years since his sister hadnt talked to him. They had quarrelled over an
inheritance.

TWO QUASI-SIMULTANEOUS ACTIONS

There is a special Past Perfect construction in English, which expresses the quasisimultaneity of two past actions: the second action happens within a time interval which is
considered by the speaker as very short of the first action, so short that the two actions are almost
simultaneous.
NOW

1
2
* In Romanian, this construction is called TEMPORAL INVERS and the time
clause has no subordination markers.
(i) N-a intrat bine n cas, c a sunat telefonul.
(ii) Nici n-a intrat bine n cas, i a sunat telefonul.
(iii) N-a apucat s intre bine n cas, c a i sunat telefonul.
(iv) Nici n-a apucat s intre bine n cas, cnd a sunat telefonul.
There are no tense markers in these sentences, but there are tense markers in the
following sentence:
(v) Cnd nici nu intrase bine n cas, a sunat telefonul.
The markers of quasi-simultaneity are present in the subordinate clause
(TEMPORALA INVERS) by the negative form of the verb, the adverb nici, the adverb
bine, the verb a apuca, and in the main clause by the adverbs c, i, cnd.
In English, this construction appears as:
He had no sooner entered the house than the phone rang.
He had hardly / barely / scarcely entered the house when the phone rang.
The markers of quasi-simultaneity are in the time clause no sooner or hardly / barely /
scarcely, and in the second clause than and when. But unlike Romanian, in English these
structures have a more rigid character, including the form of the verb, which in the time clause is
necessarily Past Perfect, and in the main clause Past Tense.
NO SOONER + Past Perfect............ THAN + Past Tense
HARDLY
BARELY
+ Past Perfect............ WHEN + Past Tense
SCARCELY
In the time clause the adverb is placed between the auxiliary and the verb.
In an emphatic structure, used in order to lay stress on the adverb, the latter goes into
initial position, with Subject Auxiliary inversion.

NO SOONER + HAD + Subject 1 + Verb 1 [Past Participle] .....

..... THAN + Subject 2 + Verb 2 [Past Tense]
HARDLY
BARELY
+ HAD + Subject 1 + Verb 1 [Past Participle] .....
SCARCELY
..... WHEN + Subject 2 + Verb 2 [Past Tense]
The previous examples become:
No sooner had he entered the house than the phone rang.
Hardly / Barely / Scarcely had he entered the house when the phone rang.
Further examples:
I had no sooner caught sight of her than she vanished into thin air.
No sooner had he started to explain than his wife interrupted him in mid-sentence.
Jack had hardly bought a new stereo system when his house was burgled and everything
of value in it stolen.
Scarcely had the curtain risen when a lamp crashed down onto the stage.
Quasi-simultaneity also applies to two present or future actions, provided that one tense is
anterior to the other. For the present we have Present Perfect and Present Tense Simple:
No sooner has she gone out than she catches a cold.
(Nici nu iese bine din cas, c i rcete.)
For the future, since we cannot use Future Perfect in the time clause, we use Present
Perfect. So one action will be in the Present Perfect, the other in the Future Tense Simple:
Hardly has he got home when he will realize his mistake.
(Nu va fi ajuns bine acas, c-i va da seama de greeal.)

THE PAST PERFECT TENSE

CONTINUOUS / PROGRESSIVE
The Past Perfect Tense Continuous / Progressive is a past tense which expresses an
action beginning at a moment in the past and going on uninterruptedly up to another past moment
or an action happening at the same time as a Past Perfect action.
Past Perfect

Past

NOW

Past Perfect

Past

NOW

He entered the company in 1993. I started to work for them in 2003.
When I entered the company, he had been working for them for ten years.
Peter said that he had been minding his own business when they had rushed into
his office.
In Romanian the Past Perfect Continuous is the most frequently translated by
IMPERFECT, but the rendering by MAI-MULT-CA-PERFECT is also possible.

When I met her she had been shopping for hours.

(Cnd am ntlnit-o, fcea / fcuse cumprturi de ore ntregi.)
It is frequently used with time expressions built with for and since, the same as the
Present Perfect Continuous, and sometimes with by-expressions, the same as the Future Perfect
or the Future Perfect Continuous.
By 10, she had been writing on her novel for almost twelve hours.
(Pn la 10, scrisese/ scria de aproape dousprezece ore la romanul ei.)
PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS PATTERNS
Affirmative
The Past Perfect Continuous is formed with two auxiliaries: to have in the Past Tense, as
an auxiliary of the tense, and to be in the Past Participle, as an auxiliary of the continuous aspect.
The verb proper is in the Present Participle (the ING-form).
SUBJECT + Aux. HAVE + Aux. BE
+
VERB
(Past Tense) (Past Participle) (Present Participle)
I had been betting

Id been betting
you had been betting
youd been betting
he had been betting

hed been betting

we had been betting
wed been betting
you had been betting
youd been betting
they had been betting
theyd been betting
Negative
The negative inserts the negation not between the first auxiliary, to have, and the second,
to be.
SUBJECT + Aux. HAVE + NOT + Aux. BE
+
VERB
(Past Tense)
(Past Participle) (Present Participle)
I had not been selling
Id not been selling / I hadnt been selling
you had not been selling youd not been selling / you hadnt been selling
he had not been selling hed not been selling / he hadnt been selling
we had not been selling wed not been selling / we hadnt been selling
you had not been selling youd not been selling / you hadnt been selling
they had not been selling theyd not been selling / they hadnt been selling
Interrogative
The interrogative form is achieved by the inversion between the subject and the first
auxiliary, to have.
Aux. HAVE + SUBJECT + Aux. BE
+
VERB
?
(Past Tense)
(Past Participle) (Present Participle)
had I been studying?
had we been studying?
had you been studying?
had you been studying?
had he been studying?
had they been studying?
(There are no short forms in the interrogative.)
Interrogative-negative

The long form of the interrogative-negative uses the insertion of the negation not between
the subject and the second auxiliary, to be, as well as inversion between the auxiliary to have and
the subject. The short form uses the conjunct form of the auxiliary to have and the negation.
Aux. HAVE + SUBJECT + NOT + Aux. BE +
VERB
?
(Past Tense)
(Past Participle) (Present Participle)
Aux. HAVE + NOT + SUBJECT + Aux. BE +
VERB
?
(Past Tense)
(Past Participle) (Present Participle)
had I not been riding?

hadnt I been riding?

had you not been riding?
hadnt you been riding?
had he not been riding?

hadnt he been riding?

had we not been riding?
hadnt we been riding?
had you not been riding?
hadnt you been riding?
had they not been riding?
hadnt they been riding?
Further examples:
Had she been waiting long when you got there?
He had been seeing her for months before he realized he was in love with her and asked
her to marry him.
By 2002 they had been dealing with such problems for a long time.
Hadnt he been driving for more than fourteen hours when he had the accident?