Past Perfect: statements

 

The Past Perfect is normally used with the Past Simple to talk about two or more events that happened at different times in the past.

In such statements the Past Simple describes the event that is closest to the time of speaking. The Past Perfect describes an event further back in the past.

• The train had left (Past Perfect) before we arrived (Past Simple) at the station. (The train left earlier and we arrived later).
• Anthony had gone (Past Perfect) to the university when I knocked (Past Simple) on his door.
• He had cooked (Past Perfect) dinner before Gwen got (Past Simple) back from work.

To make the Past Perfect, use the verb had + past participle (for regular verbs, this is the “-ed” form of the verb. See more about participles in Unit **):

Singular	Plural
I had (I’d) planned You had planned He/she/it had planned	We had planned You had planned They had planned

In the following examples, even if the Past Simple action is first in the sentence, it still happened later:

• The traffic was bad because a car had broken on the road.
• When we arrived at the stadium, the game had already started.