Past Perfect (I had done)

a) Form: Subject + had + past participle

I gone
You finished
He, she, it had seen
We broken
You read
They lived

b) When do we use it?

→ When we want to talk about something that happened before another event in the past:

Sarah and Paul went to the same party but they didn’t see each other: Paul left at 10:30 and
Sarah left at 11:00 → When Sarah arrived, Paul had gone home.

Something that happened Event in the past:

before another event in the …when Sarah
past: Paul had gone home… arrived

(Past Perfect) (Past simple)

Present

Past

c) Past simple Vs. Past Perfect Simple

→ We use the past perfect and the past simple with different connectors:
• We use the past simple with before, by the time, until and when.
• We use the past perfect with already, yet, after and as soon as.

Past Simple Past Perfect

Before the police came in,
By the time we arrived
Until she went to England
When you lost it,
I went to his house
I called him at 10 pm
They found the treasure
I called her
the thief had broken in.
the concert had started.
she hadn’t tried fish and chips.
I hadn’t finished the book.
although I had already paid him a visit.
and he hadn’t arrived yet.
after we had given them clues.
as soon as we had heard the news.