Past Perfect Simple

The past perfect is used to make clear that one action happened before another one in the past. Contrary to some belief, it is NOT used to express something that happened a very long time ago rather than it happened earlier than something else.

  • Columbus discovered the new world in 1492.   /past simple is used, even though it happened more than 500 years ago./
  • By the time the police arrived at the bank, the burglars had already left.  /the burglary might have happened only few hours ago, yet past perfect was used to make clear the sequence of the events.

Time adverbs and adverbial phrases (AKA ‘key words’) often used with present continuous are as follows:

Key Words

before, no sooner, hardly, by the time, for, since etc.

Forms of Past Perfect

Affirmative
I had done.
You had done.
He/she/it had done.
We had done.
They had done.

Negative
I hadn’t done.
You hadn’t done.
He/she/it hadn’t done.
We hadn’t done.
They hadn’t done.

Question
Had I done?
Had you done?
Had he/she/it done?
Had we done?
Had they done?

The Past Perfect Is Used

for actions that happened  before another action or a point in time

Hardly had I got home when it started to rain.
When the police arrived, the thief had managed to leave the crime scene.
That was the last time we had spent the night together.
Had you previously studied English before you moved to Brighton?
Looking into the room the inspector realized that somebody had been there before.
No sooner had the teacher left the classroom than the students started to go wild.

for hypothetical situation in the past (conditional type III)

If Jim had had more money, he would certainly have gone with us to Mauritius.
Had I known how difficult it was going to be, I would have started writing this site.
Had Columbus not discovered America, someone else would have done it.

in indirect speech (instead of past simple and present perfect)

The accused said he had gone anywhere on the day of murder.
The officer asked me if I had ever broken the law?
Megan explained to me where she had been the night before.