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 kingsonselvaraj The two sentences use different verb tenses to express different hypothetical situations. The first sentence uses a mixed second and third conditional, which is used to describe an unreal or hypothetical situation in the present or future. The sentence "If I had money, I would have bought it" suggests that the speaker does not currently have the money to buy something, and therefore cannot buy it. The second sentence uses the third conditional, which is used to describe an unreal or hypothetical situation in the past. The sentence "If I had had money, I would have bought it" suggests that at a certain point in the past, the speaker did not have the money to buy something and therefore did not buy it. This sentence is often used to express regret about a missed opportunity. In short, the first sentence talks about a hypothetical situation in the present or future, while the second sentence talks about a hypothetical situation in the past.
Hello there. When I was practicing for my test I saw a sentence that I wasn't sure how to solve. I asked a friend for help yet we are still confused. The sentence goes like this: I would have spoken to her If _____ (be) there with you. I answered with had been and he with were there with you. Which would be correct since this is a sentence that reminds me of the third conditional.
Hello Maya4aa,
Both answers are correct. Using 'had been' makes it a third conditional structure and 'were' makes it a mixed conditional. You can see more about this on our Conditionals 2 page.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hello
As I understand, Past perfect indicates a connection between two past (completed) actions in which one of them happened before the other.
According to the definition, how can we explain the function of this tense in the presence of a sentence with a single action (VERB).
Ex:
She hadn’t shown her stories to anybody.
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One more thing. Can you explain the logic behind these two sentences:
1) It is a touching story of adventures they had shared together and how their relationship changed over time.
2) A woman had written stories for years but hadn’t had the courage to submit them.
Hi Ray_2020,
It's a good question. Looking at these sentences, there may not be an apparent reason for using the past perfect. However, sentences are usually part of a larger text or a conversation, and other connected past actions may be referred to somewhere else in the larger text or conversation. In other words, grammatical meanings can cover not just sentences but also paragraphs and longer pieces of text. Since we cannot see the larger text here, we cannot confirm that, but it seems to be the situation here.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Thank you very much for your response.
What about this sentences (With One Action "Verb") that are taken from this article?
It still hadn't rained at the beginning of May.
It was the most beautiful photo I'd ever seen.
How to explain or understand the logic here?
Hi Ray_2020,
The past perfect can show that an action occurred before another past time (e.g. the beginning of May). It doesn't always have to refer to another past action. In sentence 1, "It still hadn't rained" is talking about the time before the beginning of May, which is in the past.
In sentence 2, "I'd ever seen" is talking about the time before "It was the most beautiful photo" (i.e., the time when I saw the photo and noticed that it was beautiful, which the past simple shows is in the past).
I hope that helps to understand it.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Hi there,
I visited my friend last week. I(have never seen/had never seen) such a small kitchen. She cooked a meal for me.
Can I use both?
Hi MPhayTp,
They are both grammatically fine! But if you use the present perfect (I have never seen), it means that this is important in the present conversation, so it suggests that you are going to talk more in this conversation about the kitchen and how small it was.
If you use the past perfect (I had never seen), the focus is on the past time (the time of your visit to your friend), so it suggests that you are going to talk more about your visit in general, not just about the kitchen.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Hello!
Could you please help me with the following items
1. If I say, for example, "I went to a dance class one month ago. I had gone to another dance class before." and I want to tell about an earlier past (about another dance class I had gone to before), should I continue using Past Perfect in the further sentences like: "When I had gone to another dance class, I hadn't really liked our trainer. She had been very nervous and she had cried at people. It had seemed to me that I had got her annoyed for some reason. I had wanted just to receive positive emotions after my studies, but I hadn't. That's why I had decided to go to another dance school, which I liked much more."
2. "It was very strange that it was still snowy." Or am I to say "It was very stange that it had been snowy", because it was snowy first and then it seemed strange to me?
I am very very grateful for your important help and thank you very much for clarifying these issues beforehand!!!