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
Hello!
Would you be so kind to tell me whether the use of past perfect is correct in the following sentence (had prompted):
Our analysis showed that the use of metaphors was more frequent in the translation of Cinderella, primarily due to the existence of specific verbal elements whose syntactic complexity had prompted the translator to express them metaphorically.
So, the analysis took place in the past, and it referred to another event (the translation of the book) that happened before the analysis itself.
Hi Dani Conti,
Yes, it is correct! The meaning is clear and as you intended.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Thank you!
Can you please check on the following sentence (it’s interesting)?
Our analysis showed that strong modal verbs were more frequent in the translation of ‘The Rule of Law’ due to the existence of a strong framework of rules in which they were embedded.
‘Were embedded’ emphasizes the state of being embedded? So they were still embedded in that framework; they were still there at the moment of my analysis/reading the translation.
And if ‘had been embedded’ was used, the emphasis would be on the action of embedding itself, right? This would mean that the action of embedding was already completed before my reading the translation.
It’s kind of tricky to choose between the two, as they both seem correct to me.
Hello Dani Conti,
Yes, what you says makes sense to me. 'were embedded' sounds like the best choice.
By the way, I think you might find the English Language & Usage StackExchange a very useful place for enquiries such as this one.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Is there any website that categorizes phonological problems of learners based on level or topic or both? for example, I want to know about the learners of B2 level problems about past perfect/
Hello Farzad58,
I'm not aware of a site that does this, but when I did an internet search for "typical pronunciation issues at cefr levels", a couple of results that might be useful for you came up:
I think pronunciation issues probably vary more based on a learner's linguistic background (i.e. mother tongues), but in the case of the past perfect, for example, I've worked with students on the pronunciation of the contracted form. In a phrase like 'they'd already eaten', working on pronouncing 'they'd' as /ðeɪd/ and 'they'd already' for fluency.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Thanks a million for your valuable comments.
I would like to ask u a question regarding tenses, sir. If I wanna talk about a scene in a movie/story/novel, which tenses should I use? is it present tense or past?
Hello ashiecajlenreese,
Often we use the present tense to talk about a scene in a film or story. We typically do this when we're describing what happens in the scene, though depending on what you are using the scene to say or argue in your text, it's also possible to use the past tense.
I'm sorry that's very vague, but it's difficult to give a precise answer without knowing more. If you want to share a few sentences of your text with us, we should be able to give you a more specific answer.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
example sentence: "the scenery he saw that day was the beginning of his gruesome odyssey". this scene is in the first episode and the character is now grown up. which one is the better tense? past or present?
thank u for the explanation, sir