Review of the past tenses: past simple and past perfect

🔊 المعلّمة تقرأ لك

In 1516, the Turkish Baba Aruj brothers took control of Algiers; after that, the city thrived. A historian tells these two events in a single sentence: « After the Turkish Baba Aruj brothers had gained control of the city in 1516, Algiers thrived as a relatively independent city. » Two verbs in the past — but not in the same past. You already know both tenses, the past simple and the past perfect; this lesson makes sure you can use them together to tell a story in the right order. So why does one sentence need two different pasts?

🎓في نهاية هذا الدرس ستكون قادرا على:

التمييز بين الماضي البسيط ⁦past simple⁩ والماضي التامّ ⁦past perfect⁩ في نصّ تاريخيّ، وبيان أيّ الحدثين وقع أوّلا
تكوين الماضي التامّ بـ ⁦had⁩ متبوعة بالتصريف الثالث للفعل، مع الأفعال المنتظمة والشاذّة
رواية أحداث ماضية بترتيبها الزمنيّ، مستعملا أدوات الترتيب ⁦first, then, finally⁩ وأدوات الزمن ⁦when, after, before⁩
عدم الخلط بين ⁦had⁩ فعلا بمعنى « كان لـ » ⁦(had less influence)⁩ و ⁦had⁩ مساعدا للماضي التامّ ⁦(had gained)⁩

🔑يفترض هذا الدرس أنّك تتقن:

الماضي البسيط للأفعال المنتظمة، ونهايته ⁦-ed⁩
التصريفات الثلاثة لأشهر الأفعال الشاذّة، مثل ⁦write – wrote – written⁩
الفعل ⁦have⁩ في الماضي البسيط: ⁦had⁩

1. Two pasts in one story

في الرواية التاريخية زمنان للماضي: الماضي البسيط يسرد الأحداث حدثا بعد حدث، والماضي التامّ يعود إلى حدث انتهى قبل حدث ماضٍ آخر.

When we give a historical account, we follow chronology: the events are told in the order in which they happened. To do this, we use past tenses — generally the past simple, and occasionally the past perfect. The past simple carries the story forward, one event after the other: « The Vandals destroyed Icosium in the 5th century A.D. Five centuries later, Emir Bulughin rebuilt the town. » The past perfect is made of had + the past participle of the verb: had gained. It steps back in time: it tells an event that was already finished when another past event happened. In the historian's sentence, the two events are joined by the time conjunction after.

The Casbah of Algiers — a historical account

In the northern part of Algeria, the Casbah of Algiers undoubtedly holds the most important position among the historic sites. Its history is closely linked with the history of the city of Algiers. There is little knowledge about its earliest times when it was founded by the Phoenicians as one of their trading posts. It was known to the Carthaginians and to the Romans as Icosium. The Vandals destroyed Icosium in the 5th century A.D. Five centuries later, Emir Bulughin rebuilt the town into an important Mediterranean trading port called al-Jaza'ir. Until then, Algiers had less influence on international commerce than the other Algerian maritime cities because it had fewer natural harbours. After the Turkish Baba Aruj brothers had gained control of the city in 1516, Algiers thrived as a relatively independent city under the nominal control of the Ottoman Empire. Later, the Ottomans transformed the architectural character of the city by constructing mosques and palaces similar to those in Asia Minor and erecting the famous white-washed military fortification known as the Casbah. Adapted from Africana: The Encyclopedia of African and African American Experience

Which past, and why?

Verb in the text	Tense	What it tells
destroyed Icosium, 5th century	past simple	one step of the story
rebuilt the town, five centuries later	past simple	the next step: « five centuries later » gives the order
had gained control, 1516	past perfect	the earlier event, already finished
thrived	past simple	the later event
had less influence	past simple of have	not a past perfect: had is followed by a noun group, not by a past participle

Past perfect = had + past participle. Past simple = one verb form.

Task 1 — In the historian's sentence, which event came first? How do you know?

أيّ الحدثين وقع أوّلا في جملة المؤرّخ؟ وكيف تعرف ذلك؟

The Baba Aruj brothers gained control of the city first, in 1516; Algiers thrived afterwards. Two clues say so: the time conjunction after, and the tenses themselves — had gained is a past perfect, the tense of the earlier event, while thrived is a past simple, the tense of the later one.

Task 2 — « Until then, Algiers had less influence on international commerce… » Is had a past perfect here?

هل ⁦had⁩ في هذه الجملة ماضٍ تامّ؟

No. Here had is the past simple of the verb have (Algiers had less influence), and it is followed by a noun group: less influence. A past perfect needs a past participle after had: had gained. So before you name the tense, look at the word that comes after had.

2. The past participle: regular and irregular verbs

لتكوين الماضي التامّ نحتاج التصريف الثالث للفعل: ينتهي بـ ⁦-ed⁩ في الأفعال المنتظمة، ويُحفَظ في الأفعال الشاذّة.

For a regular verb, the past simple and the past participle are the same word ending in -ed: gain → gained → had gained. Irregular verbs have to be learnt. Some keep the same form for the past simple and the past participle (List A); others have two different forms (List B). With a List B verb, the past perfect cannot be guessed from the past simple: it is had begun, not had began.

Irregular verbs — a few from each list

Infinitive	Past simple	Past participle	List
build	built	built	A
buy	bought	bought	A
find	found	found	A
begin	began	begun	B
take	took	taken	B
write	wrote	written	B
know	knew	known	B

List A: same past simple and past participle. List B: two different forms.

Put the verbs in brackets in the past simple or the past perfect.

1. For a long time papermaking (be) a monopoly of the Chinese. 2. By the time the Arabs (learn) the secret of papermaking from Chinese prisoners, the Chinese (keep) it for centuries. 3. After Ts'ai Lun (discover) that paper could be made from bark and old linen, papermaking (remain) a monopoly of the Chinese for a long time. 4. The Vandals (destroy) Icosium long before Emir Bulughin (rebuild) the town.

Task 3 — the answers, and the question to ask each time

في كلّ جملة اسأل: أيّ الحدثين وقع أوّلا؟

1. was — one fact of the story: past simple.
2. learned is the later event; had kept is the earlier one, already going on and finished by then: past perfect.
3. had discovered is the earlier event (it comes after after); remained is the later one.
4. had destroyed is the earlier event, rebuilt the later one. The past simple destroyed is also correct here: before already shows the order — which is why historians generally keep the past simple and use the past perfect only occasionally.

3. Telling it in order: sequencers and time conjunctions

لرواية الأحداث بترتيبها نستعمل أدوات الترتيب (البداية، المواصلة، النهاية) وأدوات الزمن التي تربط حدثين في جملة واحدة.

Words that keep a story in order

To begin	To go on	To end
first	next	finally
to start with	then	at last
to begin with	shortly afterwards	eventually
originally	later	in the end

Time conjunctions join two events in one sentence: when · as soon as · while · before · after · once.

The history of papermaking — seven sentences out of order

A. For a long time papermaking with such materials was a monopoly of the Chinese. B. The Arabs improved the papermaking process considerably. C. About the year 105 A.D., a Chinese official called Ts'ai Lun discovered that paper could be made from bark, old linen and other materials. D. It reached the Maghrib about 1100, and then was introduced into Spain, France, Italy and Germany. E. It was so made until about the eighth or ninth century A.D. F. The craft spread to Baghdad and Damascus. G. The Arabs learned the secret from Chinese prisoners, captured in the fighting around Samarkand between 704 and 750 A.D.

Task 4 — Which sentence begins the story, and which one ends it? What links A to C, and G to A?

أيّ جملة تفتح القصّة وأيّها تختمها؟ وما الكلمات التي تربط الجمل بعضها ببعض؟

C begins the story: it has the earliest date (about 105 A.D.) and it introduces paper itself.
D ends it: it has the latest date (about 1100), and then carries the story on to Europe.
A points back to C: such materials means the bark and old linen named in C.
G points back to A: the secret is the Chinese monopoly of A — a secret that the Arabs learned.

Dates, sequencers and reference words (such, so, it, the secret) are the clues that rebuild a chronology.

Do this alone, in writing. Tell a very short episode of the history of papermaking in three sentences. Use one sequencer (first, then, finally…) and one past perfect with after or by the time. Then check each verb with the question of this lesson: which event came first?

اكتب وحدك ثلاث جمل عن تاريخ صناعة الورق، فيها أداة ترتيب واحدة وماضٍ تامّ واحد.

A model answer

First, about the year 105 A.D., a Chinese official, Ts'ai Lun, discovered that paper could be made from bark and old linen. For a long time, papermaking remained a monopoly of the Chinese. Then, after the Arabs had learned the secret from Chinese prisoners around Samarkand, the craft spread to Baghdad and Damascus.

In the exam, tenses are tested inside sentences: the verb is given in brackets and you must choose the right past. Before you write, ask one question — which event came first? Have three things ready: ① had + past participle for the earlier event; ② the past participles of List B (begun, taken, written, known); ③ the time words that show the order: after, before, when, by the time. The frequent mistake is to put every past event in the past perfect: the past simple tells the story, the past perfect only steps back.

What I keep — A story in the past is told with the past simple, one event after the other. When I need to go back to an event that was already finished, I use the past perfect: had + past participle (had gained, had written). After, before and when show the order; first, then, finally keep the story moving. And had followed by a noun is not a past perfect: it is the past simple of have.

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