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,
Source: Grammar Lab Advanced C1-C2, page 26
Bernard Warner is a fishmonger. He sells fish and sometimes lobsters. Once, an unusual lobster arrived in his shop. It was a little bit paler than most other of its species, but perhaps it was just a bit old. Mr Warner left his shop to go on holiday as planned. En route to Majorca, Mr Warner picked up the in-flight magazine; it fell open at an article about albino lobsters. These very rare lobsters are just paler versions of a normal lobster, and they are very valuable. As soon as he reached his destination, he raced to the phone, but it was too late. A diner somewhere had eaten the prize catch, and he had had no idea at all of its value. After forty years as a fishmonger, Mr Warner had thought that no one knew the business better than him, but he had never come across one of those lobsters before.
Could you please expain why they use 'had thought that no one knew' here?
I understand that the past perfect probably conveys the idea that 'he had thought' before he read the article, but I don't understand why we have the past simple 'no one knew' after that. To me, 'had thought' and 'no one knew' are happening at the same time.
Thank you
Hi Tony,
The first verb here clearly describes a situation which was true in the past but which is no longer true. Therefore the past perfect is correct. The question, as you say, is why the past simple is used. I think the explanation is that 'knew' does not refer to a concrete time but rather to a general state. In other words, the actual state of knowledge is constant; Mr Warner's awareness is the only thing changing.
Perhaps this example will clarify:
hadn't heard - a past situation which stopped being true
were - something that was, is and will be true (general time reference)
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Peter,
Thank you very much.
I see. Would these be correct?
- Before our conversation yesterday, I had believed that you had gone to Harvard. (going was before believing; since tenses are relative to something, here, probably, they are relative to each other; you are not a student, you were one 20 years ago)
- Before our conversation yesterday, I had believed that you went to Harvard. (believing and going are at the same time; you are of student age, but now I know that you go to college at the University of Michigan)
Hi again Tony,
Yes, that's exactly it. Something similar to this can happen in conditional sentences. For example:
However, when the result is not anchored in past time but is a general statement which we can draw from evidence in the past then we can have sentences like this:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Peter,
Thank you very much. Now it's clear.
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/