Past Perfect (Had + Past Participle)
Past Perfect is used to express actions that happened before other past events. It is formed with “had” followed by the past participle of the verb. When two events occurred in the past, and one happened before the other, we use this structure to indicate the sequence of events.
Let’s take two past events in the simple past tense:
- We forgot our tickets at home.
- We bought tickets again.
Which event happened first? Yes, it’s the first sentence. They forgot the tickets at home, and as a result, they bought new ones. Now, let’s combine these two sentences using Past Perfect:
We bought tickets again because we had forgotten them at home.
Here’s another example:
- He sent the mail.
- His friend called him.
Now, let’s connect these two events with “before” using Past Perfect:
Before he sent the mail, his friend had called him.
We can use Past Perfect with various conjunctions, including:
- although: Although he had never seen a zebra, she went to Africa.
- until: She had already finished her homework when her dad came home.
- before: “I had never used a laptop,” said James.
- already: The match between Arsenal and West Ham had started before we arrived.
- never: She had never seen a zebra until she went to Africa.