​Definition:

The Past Perfect expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past. It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past

An aspect of the verb that designates an action which has been completed before another past action.

Synonyms

• past perfective

• the pluperfect.

 

 

Formed with the    auxiliary had  and the past participle

of a verb, the past perfect indicates a time further back in the past than the present perfect or the simple past tense.

 

Past Perfect

FORM

[had + past participle]

 

Examples:

 

• You had studied English before you moved to New York.

• Had you studied English before you moved to New York?

• You had not studied English before you moved to New York.

 

 

 

 

 

When should we use the past perfect tense?

 

 

 

We often use the past perfect tense in reported speech after verbs like said, told, asked, thought, wondered:

Look at these examples:

• He told us that the train had left.

• I thought I had met her before, but I was wrong.

• He explained that he had closed the window because of the rain.

• I wondered if I had been there before.

• I asked them why they had not finished.

 

 

 

When a completed action before something else in the past.

• When we arrived, the film had started. (= first the film started, then later we arrived)

 

To explain or give a reason for something in the past.

• I'd eaten dinner so I wasn't hungry.

• It had snowed in the night, so the bus didn't arrive.

 

Stative verbs only: something that started in the past and continued up to another action in the past.

 

• When he graduated, he had been in London for six years.(= he arrived in London six years before he graduated and lived there continuously until he graduated, or even longer)

 

As part of the third conditional.

 

• If I had known you were ill, I would have visited you.

 

The examples below show the placement for grammar adverbs such as: always, only, never, ever, still, just, etc.

 

• You had previously studied English before you moved to New York.

• Had you previously studied English before you moved to New York?