Verb Tenses

Past Perfect Simple.

Had + Past Participle

General Structure - ed (regular verbs)
(había jugado)
- 3rd Column (irregular verbs)

(+) (-) (?)

Regular
Verbs Had played Hadn't played Had + Person + played... ?

Irregular
Verbs Had gone Hadn’t gone Had + Person + gone... ?

General Uses.
- Past actions previous to other past actions: When we arrived, they had already left.
He was happy because he had won.
- Previous events in past stories: Everything had gone wrong since the instant he woke up.
Tom had worked in the bank since 1983.
This tense is often combined with the Past Simple, which shows the most recent past action:
We all had gone by the time he finished.
He had lived in Bonn for years, so his German was good.

Past Perfect Continuous.

General Structure
(había estado jugando)
Had Been + Verb ING

(+) (-) (?)

Had been playing Hadn't been playing Had + person + been playing... ?

General Uses.
- Long past action previous to other past action: I had been waiting for ages when he came.
I found that he had been checking my calls.
He was tired because he had been running.