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
Hi sergey_34,
'had been burgled' is not a continuous form, but rather a passive form. A continuous form is one like 'had been being burgled' -- the -ing word makes it a continuous tense.
I've included a couple of links to pages that I think might be useful for you, but if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask us.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Pavan,
This sentence is intended as an example of a common mistake so you are right to recognise that it is wrong. I can see that the page is not as clear as it should be and that other people might think that this is intended to be a good example so, following your comment, I have edited the page to make it clearer.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Pavan,
Both 'shall' and 'will' are correct here, as you say, but in modern English 'shall' is actually quite unusual and sounds a little old-fashioned in most contexts. It is really only frequently used in questions as a way of making a polite suggestion:
In this use it has a similar meaning to 'should' and a sense of 'Do you think it is a good idea to...?'
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Pavan,
Those are a lot of questions!
In 1, 'for the last seven years' suggests that Jane is still involved nowadays -- for this reason, the past simple isn't correct. If she is no longer involved now, then you should use a time expression that makes this clear, e.g. 'for seven years' or 'From 2010 to 2017'.
Sentence 2 is the same -- 'last' includes the present time.
In sentence 3 you could say 'got promoted' or 'was promoted' -- they mean the same thing, though 'got' is more informal and might not be appropriate in some contexts. You could also say 'has been promoted', which would suggest that she is still rising in the company as you speak. If you say 'was' or 'got', it makes it sound like her time in the company is finished.
You can read more about the passive voice on our active and passive page.
Many people have different careers at different stages of their lives. For example, I know a musician who used to be a teacher. First he was a teacher and then he switched careers -- he's now a musician.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Little granny,
Both sentences are correct, but the one with 'hadn't' is a little clearer because it indicates the time sequence more clearly.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team