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
Dear Team,
Context: I am talking about my grandfather, who died 30 years ago. I am talking about a particular experience with my grandfather. But I am relating to what he did, when he was alive. But I am saying it to my friends, as it is my current experience.
Question:
I have never seen that my grandfather had a good result for his hard work.
I never saw that my grandfather had a good result for his hard work.
Which of the above sentences is grammatically correct?
Please help me in this regard.
Thanks,
kingson
Hello kingson,
The second option (never saw) seems best here to me as the time frame is a closed one - your grandfather is no longer alive so you have no chance of seeing him get new results, whether good or bad.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Peter
Thank you again for your valuable feedback.
Heidi, who can already add, subtract and draw figures and write sentences, 1)was reading/ 2)had been reading books for 7 years old when she was just two.
What’s the difference between 1 and 2?
Andi
Hello again Andi,
As I've said multiple times, the past perfect requires a past time context, such as another past time event. There is no other past time event in your example, so there is no reason to use the past perfect. One could invent a context which is not included in the sentence, of course, but there is no indication in the sentence as given.
I think we've given about as much explanation of this point as we can and we're now just repeating ourselves, so I think we'll consider this particular topic closed. I hope we've provided some clarification for you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi LearnEnglish Team
First, thank you for your insightful and highly informative comments.
1)It still hadn’t rained at the beginning of May.
2)We had been very playful the whole of the last year.
3)We had been very playful last year.
Correct me if I’m wrong. 2) and 3) unlike 1) don’t have a point in time so that the action in the past perfect can relate to but rather a period of time which expresses the duration of the action in pp.
Andi
Hello Andi,
All of these sentences must describe a situation/action/state in the past before another action in the past. The first is obvious: the writer or speaker is looking back from the perspective of May (in the past) further back into the past before May. The other two sentences are not so clear. In order for the past perfect to be used, however, there needs to be another past time reference point which may be evident from the context in which the sentences occur, or implied more generally in the narrative. Without this, a non-perfect past form would be used (were very playful).
Most narratives (stories, novels etc) are written in past tense. This naturally leads to the use of the past perfect for events before the main time context of the story.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi again Andi,
The past perfect needs to be an action before another action in the past which in some way influences the later action. It doesn't matter if you're talking about a long action or a short one, a period of time or a point in time. For example:
Generally we use 'the previous year' with past perfect as we are looking back from the past:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Peter
1)It still hadn’t rained at the beginning of May.
2)We had been playful last year/last week.
In your comment you say that in the first sentence the speaker is referring to an action happening before May. But can’t we say the same for the second sentence that the speaker is referring to an action before last year/week? Why do you say that it needs another point in time? Isn’t ’at the beginning of May’ the same as ‘last year/week in terms of being both a point in time?
Andi
Hi again Andi,
The phrase 'at the beginning of May' gives us a past time before which the event (rain) occurred (or didn't occur in this case).
The phrase 'last year' gives us a past time during which the action happened.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team