The past perfect simple is used to describe an action that was completed before another action in the past.

Grammar Pattern	Meaning	Examples
Subject + had + past participle (3rd form)	Expresses an action completed before another action or time in the past.	I had already eaten when he arrived. She had studied English before she moved to London. They had finished their work before the deadline.

In order to master this verb tense it is crucial that you know by heart the past participle of the most used irregular verbs. Below you can see a list of the basic irregular verbs that intermediate/ high-intermediate learners MUST know already.

Base form	Simple past (2nd form)	Past participle (3rd form)
be	was/were	been
begin	began	begun
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
buy	bought	bought
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
get	got	gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
leave	left	left
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
stand	stood	stood
swim	swam	swum
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

Grammar practice

Speaking practice

1. Choose a box
2. Open the box
3. Each team member will complete the sentence using their own ideas
4. Share your sentence with your classmates