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 teachers,
I hope you doing great, I have an enquiry.
you mentioned before that we can't use past perfect to talk about a single past tense action, but in the example (It still hadn't rained at the beginning of May) why does it have just one past tense (hadn't rained)?
could you explain this point to me, please?
Kind regards,
Asala Mohammed
Hi Asala Mohammed,
Thank you for your question! To be precise, we use the past perfect to talk about a past action that is related to another reference point in the past. This reference point can be:
If there is no other reference point in the past, the past perfect isn't correct.
I hope that helps to understand it.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Thank you teacher Jonathan,
so then, if I want to talk about a point or moment in the past should I use "Still"?
Can you give me some examples about this situation, please?
Is my example right? They still hadn't replied on my mail.
Best regards,
Asala Mohammed
Hello Asala Mohammed,
The sentence 'They still hadn't replied to my email' (notice 'to' instead of 'on') can be correct if the other past reference point that Jonathan mentioned is clear from the situation.
For example, if the sentence before mentions an earlier action -- 'In January I wrote an email asking my grandparents if I could visit them in February. On 21 February, they still hadn't replied to my email.' -- then your sentence can work because it refers to that other reference point.
Sometimes the other reference point isn't mentioned immediately before a past perfect form, and in these cases it's still possible to use the past perfect form correctly.
But if the other reference point isn't clear, then we don't use the past perfect.
Does that make sense?
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Thank you teacher Kirk,
I got you, but I have a question.
In this case if I want to talk about a reference point in the past should I just use "Still"?
Another question about my previous example.
They still hadn’t replied to my email since two weeks.
They still hadn’t replied to my email at two weeks.
Are they both correct?
Kind regards,
Asala Mohammed
Hello Asala,
As Kirk said, if the reference point is already clear (from something earlier in the conversation, for example) then you don't need to repeat it. For example:
The reference point is clear from the earlier sentence, so there's no need to repeat it.
On the other hand:
Here the reference point needs to be stated because it wasn't mentioned earlier. Without it the 'still' would not make sense.
In answer to your other question, I'm afraid both sentence are wrong! In this context we would use 'after':
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you very much teacher peter, your explanation was quite clear.
But I still have unclear point about using the past perfect to talk about a single past tense action, I understood that it comes in this case (the other past reference point that teacher Jonathan mentioned). Could you give me some more examples about the past perfect which talks about a single action, please?
I thank you all teacher team.
All the best,
Asala Mohammed
Hello again Asala,
The single action point is simply another way to say that you need two time references (the action and something else).
For example:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear teacher Peter
Thank you for your explanation, but I meant the single event at the past perfect tense.
the example: It still hadn't rained at the beginning of may, I need some more examples to understand this case.
Could you give me some more examples about the past perfect which talks about the single event, please?
Kind regards,
Asala Mohammed
Hi Asala Mohammed,
In this sentence, a past time is mentioned: the beginning of May. If you use the past simple - It still didn't rain at the beginning of May - it means that there was no rain at that time (i.e. at the beginning of May).
If you use the past perfect - It still hadn't rained at the beginning of May - it means that there was no rain at or before that time (in April, for example). It means that we standing at the moment of the beginning of May and from that point looking back even further into the past. This is a single action because the sentence only contains one action. We understand the time of the past perfect action in relation to the other past time that is mentioned, so for a single event it's necessary to mention another past time (e.g. the beginning of May).
Using "still" just emphasises that we wanted or expected it to rain but it did not rain for a long time.
Here are some more examples of single events using the past perfect.
I hope that helps to understand it.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team