Past perfect

Do you know how to use phrases like They'd completed the assignment by Friday or Had you left the party when I arrived? Enhance your knowledge with a lesson given below and the grammar explanation to guide you better.

Look at these examples to see how the past perfect is used.

• She couldn’t join the meeting because she’d lost her internet connection.

• The concert was sold out, so I was relieved that we’d purchased tickets early.

• The movie wasn’t what I’d anticipated.

Grammar explanation - Past perfect 1. 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 graduated from university by the time she turned twenty-two.

• We'd eaten all the snacks before the movie started.

• Had the delivery arrived when you checked yesterday?

2. 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 firefighters arrived, the house had already burned down.

It doesn't matter in which order we say the two events. The following sentence has the same meaning.

• The house had already burned down when the firefighters 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 ancient Greeks built temples. (NOT The ancient Greeks had built temples.)

3. 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 finished my presentation.

• Sadly, the artist passed away before he’d completed his final masterpiece.

4. 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 her office, but she'd already left.

• It still hadn't snowed at the beginning of December.

• I went to visit him when he'd just returned from his trip.

• It was the most incredible experience I'd ever had.

• Had you ever tried sushi before you visited Japan?

• I'd never travelled outside my country before I went to France.

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