Past perfect | LearnEnglish

Do you know how vĩ đại use phrases lượt thích They'd finished the project by March or Had you finished work when I called? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation vĩ đại help you.

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Look at these examples vĩ đại see how the past perfect is used.

He couldn't make a sandwich because he'd forgotten vĩ đại buy bread.
The khách sạn was full, ví I was glad that we'd booked in advance.
My new job wasn't exactly what I’d expected.

Try this exercise vĩ đại test your grammar.

Grammar test 1

Grammar B1-B2: Past perfect: 1

Read the explanation vĩ đại learn more.

Grammar explanation

Time up vĩ đại a point in the past

We use the past perfect simple (had + past participle) vĩ đại talk about time up vĩ đại a certain point in the past.

She'd published her first poem by the time she was eight.
We'd finished all the water before we were halfway up the mountain.
Had the parcel arrived when you called yesterday?

Past perfect for the earlier of two past actions

We can use the past perfect vĩ đại show the order of two past events. The past perfect shows the earlier action and the past simple shows the later action.

When the police arrived, the thief had escaped.

It doesn't matter in which order we say the two events. The following sentence has the same meaning.

The thief had escaped when the police arrived.
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Note that if there's only a single sự kiện, we don't use the past perfect, even if it happened a long time ago.

The Romans spoke Latin. (NOT ~~The Romans had spoken Latin.~~)

Past perfect after before

We can also use before + past perfect to show that an action was not done or was incomplete when the past simple action happened.

They left before I'd spoken vĩ đại them.
Sadly, the author died before he'd finished the series.

Adverbs

We often use the adverbs already (= 'before the specified time'), still (= as previously), just (= 'a very short time before the specified time'), ever (= 'at any time before the specified time') or never (= 'at no time before the specified time') with the past perfect.

I called his office but he'd already left.
It still hadn't rained at the beginning of May.
I went vĩ đại visit her when she'd just moved vĩ đại Berlin.
It was the most beautiful photo I'd ever seen.
Had you ever visited London when you moved there?
I'd never met anyone from California before I met Jim.

Do this exercise vĩ đại test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2

Grammar B1-B2: Past perfect: 2