Look at these examples to see how the past perfect is used.
He couldn't make a sandwich because he'd forgotten to buy bread.
The hotel was full, so I was glad that we'd booked in advance.
My new job wasn't exactly what I’d expected.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Time up to a point in the past
We use the past perfect simple (had + past participle) to talk about time up to a certain point in the past.
She'd published her first poem by the time she was eight.
We'd finished all the water before we were halfway up the mountain.
Had the parcel arrived when you called yesterday?
Past perfect for the earlier of two past actions
We can use the past perfect to show the order of two past events. The past perfect shows the earlier action and the past simple shows the later action.
When the police arrived, the thief had escaped.
It doesn't matter in which order we say the two events. The following sentence has the same meaning.
The thief had escaped when the police arrived.
Note that if there's only a single event, we don't use the past perfect, even if it happened a long time ago.
The Romans spoke Latin. (NOT
The Romans had spoken Latin.)
Past perfect after before
We can also use before + past perfect to show that an action was not done or was incomplete when the past simple action happened.
They left before I'd spoken to them.
Sadly, the author died before he'd finished the series.
Adverbs
We often use the adverbs already (= 'before the specified time'), still (= as previously), just (= 'a very short time before the specified time'), ever (= 'at any time before the specified time') or never (= 'at no time before the specified time') with the past perfect.
I called his office but he'd already left.
It still hadn't rained at the beginning of May.
I went to visit her when she'd just moved to Berlin.
It was the most beautiful photo I'd ever seen.
Had you ever visited London when you moved there?
I'd never met anyone from California before I met Jim.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hi Imran 26,
There are several pages on this topic and also references to it on various skills pages. To find pages on particular topics you can use the search facility. Just type in, for example 'passive' and you will see a list of results.
You can also use our grammar pages. Click on the Verbs section and then look for the link to active and passive voice on the right.
You can also look at our Intermediate Grammar pages, which has a link to passives.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Thomas2300,
I think 'after' is the better of the two options. 'Once' would suggest that the visit caused her to feel sick; 'after' simply tells us that the visit did not solve the problem immediately.
You can use the past perfect coninuous following 'after'.
Generally, we do not comment on examples from other sources. We're happy to discuss our own examples and the information on our pages, but if you have a question about something in other materials you really need to ask the author. We don't know the context and may not agree with what is being explained.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello megank333,
The meaning here, if I understand you correctly, is a general one with reference to the lessons. In other words, you are not talking about a particular lesson or lessons, but rather something which is true during all lessons. The correct form here is the present simple (for general truths/typical behaviour) followed by a limiting time phrase:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi shubhamgupta,
You could say, for example, 'I had a red bicycle when I was little.' Could you please be more specific? It's just that there are many, many ways in which 'had' can be used in the past simple. we'd also ask you to ask this question on our past simple page rather than here on our past perfect page.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team