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 Loc Duc,
It's true that the past perfect shows one event was earlier in the past than another, but there also needs to be a connection between the two events. For example:
Here, the past simple is used for each action as there is no connection between the events. They form a sequence but they do not affect or cause one another.
This example is different. The thief escaping is clearly related to the police's arrival, as they were hoping to catch the thief. In other words, the escape changed the situation for the police in a key way. Thus, the past perfect is used.
I hope that helps to clarify it for you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Zuzanna,
It's a question of preference, I think. Both forms are grammatically possible.
The past perfect emphasises a connection between the two events and would probably be used if the writer wanted to talk about how not having their grandma had changed their life, for example.
The past simple describes two events in the past, but does not necessarily mean that they are connected or influence one another.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Hatchaitchi88,
It's a good question :) Both the past perfect (hadn't called) and the past simple (didn't call) are correct here.
The action of calling for help happened before the ship sinking, so the past perfect makes sense.
But, speakers often simplify by using the past simple instead of the past perfect, if the order of the events is clear in the rest of the sentence. In this situation, it's logical that not calling for help would happen before the ship sinking. It says because the engineer didn't call for help ... . 'Because' shows what caused something, and a cause must logically come before the effect. So, that's why the past perfect can be simplified to the past simple here.
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Hatchaitchi88,
Yes, it means I had expected here. Actually, expect is used in both simple and continuous tenses, and both make sense in this sentence.
The continuous form emphasises that 'expecting' had some duration (i.e. it went on for some time).
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello freudian99,
That's mostly correct. I'd recommend 'hadn't brought' for the third gap, 'tried' for the fourth, and 'wasn't' for the sixth.
Good luck on your test!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team