25 Past Perfect Tense Exercises: Ace Your Grammar with Answered Practice Questions

Past Perfect Tense is a way of talking about things that happened in the past. When we use Past Perfect Tense, we’re talking about something that had already happened before another thing happened. It’s like saying “Before I did this, I had already done that.”

To test your understanding of the past perfect tense, we have provided some exercises with answers below.

Past Perfect Tense Exercises – 1

Complete the following sentences using the past perfect tense form of the verb given in brackets:

1. She was happy to see her friends because she ______ (miss) them.
2. I couldn’t find my keys because I _______ (misplace) them.
3. He ______ (never/ride) a horse before he went to the ranch. 
4. The store was closed because the employees _______ (finish) their work.
5. I _______ (never/see) such a beautiful sunset before.
6. By the time we arrived at the party, the guests _______ (already/leave).
7. The sun _______ (set) by the time we reached the beach.
8. She _______ (read) the book before she watched the movie.
9. They _______ (finish) their dinner before they went to the movie theater.
10. He realized he _______ (forget) his phone when he arrived at work.

Past Perfect Tense Exercises – 1: Answers

1. She was happy to see her friends because she had missed them.
2. I couldn’t find my keys because I had misplaced them.
3.  He had never ridden a horse before he went to the ranch.
4. The store was closed because the employees had finished their work.
5. I had never seen such a beautiful sunset before.
6. By the time we arrived at the party, the guests had already left.
7. The sun had set by the time we reached the beach.
8. She had read the book before she watched the movie.
9. They had finished their dinner before they went to the movie theater.
10. He realized he had forgotten his phone when he arrived at work.

Try this too: Present Indefinite Tense Exercises

Past Perfect Tense Exercises – 2

Rewrite the following sentences using the past perfect tense.

1. She finished her work and then she left the office.
2. We ate dinner after we watched the movie.
3. The party ended because everyone went home.
4. He went to bed after he read the book.
5. They left the store before we arrived.
6. The teacher graded the papers after the students took the test.
7. The sun rose before we woke up.
8. She saw the movie before it was released in theatres.
9. They visited Paris before they went to London.
10. The game ended because the players left the field.
11. We cleaned the house before the guests arrived.
12. He went to the gym after he finished work.
13. She found her keys after she looked everywhere.
14. The train arrived after we waited for an hour.
15. They graduated from college after they completed their degrees.

Past Perfect Tense Exercises – 2: Answers

1. She had finished her work and then she left the office.
2. We had eaten dinner after we had watched the movie.
3. The party had ended because everyone had gone home.
4. He had gone to bed after he had read the book.
5. They had left the store before we had arrived.
6. The teacher had graded the papers after the students had taken the test.
7. The sun had risen before we had woken up.
8. She had seen the movie before it had been released in theatres.
9. They had visited Paris before they had gone to London.
10. The game had ended because the players had left the field.
11. We had cleaned the house before the guests had arrived.
12. He had gone to the gym after he had finished work.
13. She had found her keys after she had looked everywhere.
14. The train had arrived after we had waited for an hour.
15. They had graduated from college after they had completed their degrees.

Try this too: Present perfect tense exercises

Complete Tense Exercises With Answers:
Present Indefinite tense exercise
Present continuous tense exercises
Present perfect tense exercises
Present perfect continuous tense exercises

Simple Past tense exercise
Past continuous tense exercises
Past perfect tense exercises
Past perfect continuous tense exercises