 I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to Kauai.

 I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet.

 Tony knew Istanbul so well because he had visited the city several times.
 Had Susan ever studied Thai before she moved to Thailand?
 She only understood the movie because she had read the book.
 Kristine had never been to an opera before last night.
 We were not able to get a hotel room because we had not booked in
advance.
 A: Had you ever visited the U.S. before your trip in 2006?
B: Yes, I had been to the U.S. once before.

 We had had that car for ten years before it broke down.
 By the time Alex finished his studies, he had been in London for over eight
years.
 They felt bad about selling the house because they had owned it for more
than forty years.
She had never seen a bear before she moved to Alaska.
You had previously studied English before you moved to New York.
Had you previously studied English before you moved to New York

ACTIVE / PASSIVE

Examples:

George had repaired many cars before he received his mechanic's license. Active
Many cars had been repaired by George before he received his mechanic's license. Passive

El "past perfect" se corresponde con el pretérito pluscuamperfecto de indicativo.

Usamos el pasado perfecto en las siguientes situaciones:

1 Para referirnos a una acción o estado que comenzó en el pasado y que es anterior a otra
acción también pasada.

Past Perfect
He came when I had left.

Él vino cuando me había marchado (la acción de irme es anterior a la llegada de él).

2 Para acciones que sucedieron en un tiempo específico del pasado.

By midnight more than 1000 soldiers had died.

Para medianoche habían muerto más de 1000 soldados (acción antes de un tiempo
concreto).

He hadn´t been in London before 2008.

No había estado en Londres antes de 2008 (estado antes de un tiempo concreto).

3 Se usa para el estilo indirecto o "indirect speech" para decir lo que alguien ha dicho,
cuando esa persona utilizó el present perfect.

'I have finished' Derecha 'He said he had finished'.

'He terminado' Derecha 'Dijo que había terminado'

4 En algunas oraciones condicionales, se traduce por el pretérito pluscuamperfecto de

subjuntivo.

If you'd told me before, I would have gone with you

Si me lo hubieras dicho antes, habría ido contigo

Simple Past / Past Perfect

I can't believe I (get) got that apartment. I (submit) submitted my application last week, but
I didn't think I had a chance of actually getting it. When I (show) showed up to take a look
around, there were at least twenty other people who (arrive) had arrived before me. Most of
them (fill, already) had already filled out their applications and were already leaving. The
landlord said I could still apply, so I did.

I (try) tried to fill out the form, but I couldn't answer half of the questions. They (want)
wanted me to include references, but I didn't want to list my previous landlord because I
(have) had had some problems with him in the past and I knew he wouldn't recommend me.
I (end) ended up listing my father as a reference.

It was total luck that he (decide) decided to give me the apartment. It turns out that the
landlord and my father (go) went to high school together. He decided that I could have the
apartment before he (look) looked at my credit report. I really lucked out!