Episode Transcript
[00:00:17] Speaker A: Did you know that using the past perfect correctly can completely change how your stories sound?
It's the grammar that helps you explain what had happened before. Something else in the past.
Think about some of history's most famous events. Well, without the past perfect, these stories can be confusing because we don't know which event happened first. So past perfect makes the timeline clear and helps you tell more powerful stories.
So you're listening to the train and podcast. This is Johnny. I'm here with Aline, and this is your place to learn English. Get your free class with the link and description that you can see here on this link where you can learn English with the best online school. Hi, Aline.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Hello, Johnny.
And today we're going to make the past perfect, simple and natural. With examples you can use immediately. You learn how to talk about events that had happened before, another moment in the past, whether it's a historical event, a funny mistake, or something that happened in your own life.
By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly when to use the past perfect and how to make your stories clearer, more interesting and more natural in English.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: All right, so let us start then with our fictional dialogue. Okay, so I think we are going to meet somewhere and share a chaotic day. That experience yesterday that we experienced yesterday. So let's start. Well, Ian, you won't believe what happened yesterday. By the time I arrived at the station, the train had already left.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Oh, no, that's terrible.
I had forgotten my wallet at home, too. I almost missed my meeting.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: And when I got to the office, I realized that I had forgotten to send an important email. Everything went wrong.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Seriously. I had already prepared the slides, but the projector wasn't working. What a day.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: And then during lunch, I tried to order a sandwich. The cafe had run out of bread.
I had expected they'd have everything ready.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: That's frustrating. I had bought coffee earlier, but I spilled it on my notes. Can you believe it?
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Wow. And I had printed the wrong document for the meeting. Or my boss was confused and angry.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: I had already called the client to confirm the time, but they had changed it without telling me.
Total chaos.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: And don't forget the emails. By the time I checked my inbox, I had received more than 20 unread messages.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: I had been expecting a calm day, but instead my calendar was full of overlapping appointments. It was impossible to keep track.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Well, Aline, at least we laughed about it later.
And by the time we met for coffee, everything had calmed down.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: Yeah, it's funny now, but yesterday it felt like everything that could go Wrong. Had gone wrong. I had never had a day like that before.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Exactly. And I had been planning to finish a report in the morning, but I had spent two hours fixing my laptop instead.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: I had hoped to have a quiet afternoon, but then my team had an emergency. I had to rearrange everything at the last minutes.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: Well, Alene, at least now we can share our disasters and learn from them. By the time we have the coffee, I hope everything will will stay calm for the rest of the week.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Agreed. And I had promised myself I double check everything tomorrow, so maybe it'll final finally be a smooth day.
Okay, so how do we build past perfect? The structure is, as we can see here on the slide, had in past plus past participle.
And the past participle is the third column. Okay. In the irregular verbs. So how do we talk about it? What do we use it for? It's to talk about an action that had happened before. Another past action.
Let me give an example from the dialogue. By the time I arrived at the station, the train had already left.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Common mistakes. No, with the past perfect. No, past simple. Instead of the past perfect.
I forgot my wallet and I missed the meeting.
I have forgotten my wallet and almost missed the meeting.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: Yes, the mispronouncing of past participle. Okay, so a normal past participle.
It had ed at the end of the word. And of course we know that this ed, like prepared, has to be well pronounced.
We have another podcast explaining very well how to pronounce ed at the end of the past simple. And past participle is the same rule. Okay, so for example, prepared or continued or stayed or. Or needed. We need to be to follow the rule, which. We'll talk another moment, but it's very important to be sure of how to pronounce it.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: Very good. And then a classic confusing regular and irregular verbs. Cuantas? Vete de les pasado estalos estudiantes. Porchemplo. I have went to the cinema before he arrived. Como? I have went.
I had gone.
No, I have went.
Go, went, gone. No, I had gone to the cinema before he arrived.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: Okay, Go, went, gone.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: Is this eight eaten?
[00:08:09] Speaker B: So sin.
Had.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: Made.
Okay.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Took, taken.
Okay.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Wrote, written,
[00:08:50] Speaker B: Found,
[00:08:54] Speaker A: beginning.
Okay.
Of the most common pronunciation mistakes with irregular participles. Okay, so for example, you said it. No adding ed to irregular verbs. I had write it. The report. Madre mi a que palo. I had write it. No, I had written the report.
Also mispronouncing the final consonant. No, I had eat or I had went. No, I have Eaten. I had eaten. No telvides.
Oh, I had gone.
And then also confusing voice and voiced sounds in regular verbs, for example work.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Okay, so now let me ask a question today to the audience. Which irregular participle do you find hardest to pronounce? Please leave it in the comments. If you're watching us on YouTube, write a sentence using the past perfect with an irregular verb. We're looking forward to reading it.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: Fantastic. So, final tip for you if you're listening. When using the past perfect, always think about what happened first.
Some participles are irregular, so memorize the most common ones and pronounce the final consonant clearly and do not add ed to irregular verbs.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: Excellent.
Very good question for the audience.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: If you're enjoying our episode, well Visit our website trainlim.com to improve more your English with a 100 effective method and a very complete E learning platform. Or you can also scan the QR to get your free class. Here is the scan. So let's keep practicing together then.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: And for that now we're going to have a cultural dialogue and we will talk about a few events that are very well known. Using the past perfect, let's talk about the Titanic in 1912.
I will say a sentence in past perfect as an example. Okay. By the time the iceberg was spotted, the captain had already ignored previous warnings.
El titani considerado insumer ignoro.
What happens? Examples. Passengers had received warnings but did not react.
The crew had prepared lifeboats, but they were not enough tres castles.
Past perfect had already ignored a vian ignorado had received a via recivido, and the crew had prepared avian preparado like boats.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Okay.
1986.
So let us give a pass perfect example with this, the engineers had failed to follow safety procedures before the reactor exploded.
Okay, so that's maybe the structure. So they had failed. This is the past perfect before the reactor exploded. Good.
The reactor had been scheduled for maintenance and the operators had received instructions to avoid certain actions.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Let's talk about Apollo 13, 1970.
I wasn't born then, but anyway, me neither.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: Maybe Matthew. I don't know.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: So let me give an example with fast perfect about Apollo 13. The astronauts had checked the oxygen tanks before the mission, but a malfunction still occurred.
NASA engineers had prepared emergency protocols. The crew had tested all systems before launch.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: Very good. Excellent. Okay, So pass perfect example. Before World War II started, many countries had signed agreements that did not prevent the conflict.
Leaders had hoped these treaties would maintain peace, and nations had underestimated Hitler's ambitions.
Okay, when you arrived.
I had already eaten.
I had already eaten.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Think of a bad day.
Write one past perfect sentence for what happened before and one for what happened after.
So I repeat, we need you to think about a bad day. That's not too difficult. Write with past perfect a sentence of what happened before and one of what happened after. And we read.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: That's right. That's right.
You can put as an example our fictional dialogue.
Okay.
[00:17:41] Speaker B: Expand your knowledge of sports vocabulary.
Elearning online. Ddomas.
Knows
[00:18:30] Speaker A: me, Horace Prophecy Los Mejoris alumnos.
Sam.
