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They'd already started without me! The past perfect for what had already happened

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches the past perfect through the tamalada, the tamale-making party that many Mexican American and other Latino families hold before Christmas.

Grammar
Had or hadn't + past participle for the earlier of two past events (When I arrived, they had already started.), with already, just, never, by then and questions with Had…?
Topic
How a tamalada works, from soaking the husks to the float test and the big steaming pot, with words such as spread, masa, filling and assembly line.
Activities
A feature to read, a studio dialogue and a listener's message to hear, self-checking drills, a chat after a party and boxes about late arrivals.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: welcome to the kitchen!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: in the tamale kitchenVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a party with a job for everyone

    • Look at the photo: a tamalada tablePictureUnlock
    • Read Riley's story on the show's websiteArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: Riley's late arrival

    • Listen to Riley and JudeListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to The Listener's Take: ArielListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: they had already started!

    • Study the scheme: the past perfectGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the past perfectFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Fill in the table: the past perfect for every personFill in the tableTry it
    • Drag the words into the gaps: what had happened before eleven?Drag and dropUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: what had happened?

    • Choose the right replies: messages after the partyChatTry it
    • Sort the words into the correct columns: before or after Riley arrived?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the past perfect in new sentencesFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what happened first?QuizUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Riley answers ArielDrag and dropUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Percy's holiday storyChoose the optionUnlock

33 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • masa
  • tamale
  • filling
  • pork
  • pot
  • tray
  • assembly line
  • float test
  • tradition

Grammar: the past perfect: had + past participle

The past perfect looks back from a moment that is already in the past: When I arrived, they had already started. With a party that began hours before one guest walked in, learners put had with whatever happened first, build the form for every person and add already, just, never and questions with Had…?

They had already started!

had / hadn't + past participle: for the EARLIER of two things in the past.

Which thing happened first?

Two past events, one story: The family started at seven. Riley arrived at eleven. The earlier event takes had + past participle: When Riley arrived, the family had started. Swap the tenses and the story changes: Riley had arrived when they made the masa says she came first.

Riley's Saturday

pastnow
  • 7 a.m.: the family started work
  • 9 a.m.: the aunts spread the masa
  • 11 a.m.: Riley arrived
  • now: “When I arrived, they had already started!”

Which thing happened first?

Past perfect: it happened earlier

  • When Riley arrived, the family had started. (They started first, at seven.)
  • When I got home, my family had eaten. (They ate first. No dinner for me!)

had goes with the EARLIER thing

  • Right: When Riley arrived, they had already made the masa.
  • Wrong: Riley had arrived when they made the masa. (That says Riley came first!)

Had + past participle for every person

Had stays the same for I, you, he, she, it, we and they: She had started. They hadn't started. The participle is the one from have done: made, gone, done, eaten, written, forgotten.

had + past participle, for every person

PersonPositiveNegativeQuestion and short answers
II had started.I hadn't started.Had I started? Yes, I had. / No, I hadn't.
youYou had started.You hadn't started.Had you started? Yes, you had. / No, you hadn't.
heHe had started.He hadn't started.Had he started? Yes, he had. / No, he hadn't.
sheShe had started.She hadn't started.Had she started? Yes, she had. / No, she hadn't.
itIt had started.It hadn't started.Had it started? Yes, it had. / No, it hadn't.
weWe had started.We hadn't started.Had we started? Yes, we had. / No, we hadn't.
theyThey had started.They hadn't started.Had they started? Yes, they had. / No, they hadn't.

Past participles: the same as in “have done”

Base formPast simplePast participle (had + …)
foldfoldedfolded
wrapwrappedwrapped
soaksoakedsoaked
spreadspreadspread
makemademade
gowentgone
dodiddone
eatateeaten
writewrotewritten
taketooktaken
beginbeganbegun
flyflewflown
leaveleftleft
forgetforgotforgotten

Already, just, never and by then

Already, just and never sit between had and the participle: I had never folded a husk. By then means “at that time in the past”, and it often opens the sentence: By then, they had made ten dozen. In speech, had becomes 'd: They'd already started.

already, just, never, by then

Put already, just or never between had and the participle: They had already started. She had just arrived. I had never folded a husk. By then (= at that time in the past) often comes first: By then, they had made ten dozen. In speaking, had is often 'd: They'd already started.

At Jude's family tamalada

  • When Riley arrived, Jude's aunts had already spread the masa.
  • Jude's grandma had made the filling: pork, beans and cheese.
  • Riley was nervous. She had never folded a husk.
  • Had they started without her? Yes, they had!
  • By then, Jude's aunt had done the float test.
  • By four o'clock, Riley had folded five dozen tamales.

Questions, short answers and I'd

Questions start with Had, and short answers repeat it: Had they started? – Yes, they had. Not Did they had started? I'd + participle means I had, but I'd + base form means I would: I'd folded against I'd fold.

Questions, short answers and 'd

Start a question with Had: Had they started? Yes, they had. / No, they hadn't. Not: Did they had started? Not: Had they start? Watch the participles: had done (not: had did), had gone (not: had went). I'd + participle = I had (I'd folded). I'd + base form = I would (I'd fold).

Common mistakes

  • They had make the masa.

    They had made the masa.

    had + past participle, not the base form

  • Jude's mom had went to the store.

    Jude's mom had gone to the store.

    go → went → gone

  • Did they had started?

    Had they started?

    a question starts with had

  • When I arrived, they have already made the masa.

    When I arrived, they had already made the masa.

    a past story: had + past participle

More lessons on this grammar: Past perfect lessons and exercises

Try the past perfect exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • tell what had happened before a past moment: When Riley arrived, Jude's aunts had already spread the masa.
  • form the past perfect for every person, with irregular participles: had done, had gone, not had did or had went
  • ask and answer about an earlier past: Had they started without her? – Yes, they had.
  • use already, just, never and by then: She had never folded a husk. By then, they had made ten dozen.

Lesson 18 is the second lesson of Customs and manners, unit 5 of English B1.2 · Changemakers. Lesson 14 met had + past participle inside reported speech; now it tells a story, with the participles of the present perfect from B1.1 lessons 1 and 2. Lesson 19 sets it against the past simple. A party that began four hours before a guest arrived is a natural home for they had already started.

Students spin a wheel of questions about holiday food, family cooking and being late, then learn twelve words, from spread, wrap and soak to float test, with pictures and audio. They read Riley's feature on tamaladas, then hear Riley and her friend Jude list what his family had done before she walked in, and Ariel from New Mexico remember her own first tamalada; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking exercises, among them a drag-and-drop of the morning Riley missed. In the speaking chapter, students answer Percy's messages about a party he missed, sort events into before and after Riley arrived, and open boxes about their own late arrivals.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the kitchen words and a memory game, then participles to choose and past perfect gaps in new sentences, word order, a quiz on what happened first, Riley's answer to Ariel with words to drag in, and Percy's Thanksgiving mix-up with forms to choose.

Grammar:
past perfect · had + past participle · already, just, never with the past perfect · past perfect questions
Topic:
tamaladas · tamales · Mexican American traditions · holiday customs · December · family traditions · customs and manners · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Draw Riley's Saturday as a timeline before the scheme: 7 a.m., the family starts; 9 a.m., the aunts spread the masa; 11 a.m., Riley arrives. Students then say what had happened by each time.
  • Ask who has cooked with their family before the reading, and what job each person had. Then students read to find the jobs at a tamalada: soaking, spreading, filling and folding.
  • Play the dialogue twice: first for the times (seven, eleven, four o'clock), then for each had + participle. Students list what Jude's family had done before Riley walked in.
  • Check the short forms in the dialogue: We'd started, I'd written, I'd never heard of it. Students say each one in full and decide whether 'd means had or would.

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The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Start-up stories

    the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides

    1. Lesson 1The garage where Silicon Valley beganThe second conditional for imagined situations
    2. Lesson 2Would you sell lemonade to save bees?Second conditional questions and If I were you
    3. Lesson 3Pitch it to the Sharks!First vs second conditional: a real plan or a dream?
    4. Lesson 4A bakery that hires anyone?Adding ideas: also, too, as well, either and besides

  2. Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

    the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous

    1. Lesson 5Can you cross a city without going outside?The present simple passive
    2. Lesson 6A park on top of a freeway?The past simple passive
    3. Lesson 7Can a desert city catch the rain?The passive with modals
    4. Lesson 8Can an old railroad become a park?The present perfect and present continuous passive

  3. Unit 3 Food for the future

    comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out

    1. Lesson 9Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?Comparative and superlative adverbs
    2. Lesson 10Lettuce from space?The future passive with will be
    3. Lesson 11Why do corn, beans and squash grow together?Verbs with dependent prepositions
    4. Lesson 12What happens to dining-hall leftovers?Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

  4. Unit 4 Memory and learning

    reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands

    1. Lesson 13Can you train your memory?Reported statements with say and tell
    2. Lesson 14He got better but never rememberedReported statements about the past
    3. Lesson 15Can a TV show teach the alphabet?Reported questions
    4. Lesson 16Can you learn a new skill at 70?Reported requests and commands

  5. Unit 5 Customs and manners

    degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do

    1. Lesson 17To tip or not to tip?Adverbs of degree before adjectives and adverbs
    2. Lesson 18 · you're hereThey'd already started without me!The past perfect: had + past participle
    3. Lesson 19What should you do at a powwow?Past perfect vs past simple
    4. Lesson 20How do you accept a lei?Make vs do: collocations to learn

  6. Unit 6 Art and design

    relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why

    1. Lesson 21Art that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
    2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
    3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
    4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where

  7. Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

    verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather

    1. Lesson 25A day on, not a day off?Verb + -ing or verb + to
    2. Lesson 26The house that welcomed a neighborhoodGerunds as subjects and after prepositions
    3. Lesson 27A walk that lasted 24 hoursStop, remember, forget and try + to or -ing
    4. Lesson 28Head, heart, hands and healthPrefer, would rather and would prefer

  8. Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

    possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

    1. Lesson 29Could you climb a fourteener?Possessive 's, s' or of
    2. Lesson 30It must be here somewhere!Must and can't for deduction
    3. Lesson 31How did Houdini get out?Might, may and could for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A capital with no road inThe meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

What is the past perfect?
The past perfect is had + past participle, and it shows that something happened before another moment in the past: When I arrived, they had already started. They started first; the speaker came later. It's the tense for “before then” in a story. The B1 lesson They'd already started without me! on edio.ai teaches it with a tamale-making party that began four hours before a guest came.
How do you form the past perfect?
Use had + the past participle, the same for every person: I had started, she had started, they had started. The negative is hadn't + participle (We hadn't eaten.), and questions begin with Had: Had they started? – Yes, they had. Irregular verbs use the participles of the present perfect: had gone, had done, had eaten, had written.
When do you use the past perfect?
Use it when a past story steps further back: When Riley arrived, Jude's aunts had already spread the masa. If you simply tell events in order, the past simple is enough: The aunts spread the masa at nine. Words like already, never, by then and by four o'clock often go with it. In They'd already started without me! on edio.ai, a timeline of Riley's Saturday shows the order.
What's the difference between the past perfect and the present perfect?
The present perfect looks back from now, but the past perfect looks back from a past moment. They have started means before now; they had started means before a time that is also over. So in a past story, it's When I arrived, they had already made the masa, not have already made. That slip is one of the common mistakes in They'd already started without me!, a B1 lesson on edio.ai.
Is it “had went” or “had gone”?
It's had gone: after had, use the past participle, never the past simple. The same goes for had done (not had did), had eaten (not had ate) and had written (not had wrote). The base form is wrong too: They had made the masa, not had make. The scheme in They'd already started without me! lists fourteen verbs with all three forms.
What is a tamalada?
A tamalada is a tamale-making party. In the weeks before Christmas, many Mexican American and other Latino families in the US get together to make tamales: they soak corn husks, spread masa, a soft corn dough, on them, add a filling such as pork, beans or cheese, fold them and steam them in a big pot. Riley's feature in They'd already started without me! on edio.ai explains the steps.
What is the float test for masa?
It's a way to check that the masa is light enough: many cooks drop a pea-sized piece into a glass of water, and if it floats, the masa is ready. It's one of the surprising facts in They'd already started without me! on edio.ai, along with the word's origin: tamale comes from a word in Nahuatl, an Indigenous language of Mexico, that means “wrap.”
How do I teach the past perfect to B1 students?
Start from a story with a clear before and after, such as arriving late to something that had already begun, and draw it as a timeline. Then show the form for every person and the participles. They'd already started without me! on edio.ai moves from Riley's feature and her dialogue with Jude to the scheme, a drag-and-drop of the morning she missed and four more drills.
What's a good game for practicing the past perfect?
Try “What had changed?”: one student leaves the room, the class changes three things, and when the student comes back, they guess with the past perfect: Someone had opened the window. You had moved the chair. For speaking, the boxes in They'd already started without me! on edio.ai ask questions like When you woke up this morning, what had your family already done?
What's good homework for practicing the past perfect?
Good homework asks which event came first, as well as for the form: a quiz such as “When Percy got to the bus stop, the bus had left.” What happened first?, plus participle choices and gaps in new sentences. All ten homework tasks in They'd already started without me! on edio.ai check themselves, and the last one is a listener's Thanksgiving mix-up.
How do you practice the past perfect one-to-one?
Swap stories about arriving late: the teacher asks What had already happened when you got there? and Had the others started?, and the student answers with had + participle, then asks the same questions back. The chat in They'd already started without me! on edio.ai works without a partner: Percy missed a party, and the student tells him what had happened.
Are there interactive exercises for the past perfect?
Yes. This page plays three parts of They'd already started without me!, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: Riley and Jude's dialogue, a table of the past perfect for every person and Percy's chat after the party. Everything else needs an account.
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