Past perfect

The past perfect = had + V3, the same for all subjects. Short forms: I'd, she'd, they'd; negative hadn't.

💡'd can be had or would. Look at the next word: 'd + V3 = had (I'd forgotten); 'd + base form = would (I'd forget). And 'd better = had better.

Use the past perfect when you are already talking about the past and want to go one step further back: this happened before another moment or event in the past.

1. Something that happened before another past event

• When I got to the station, the train had already left.

• I couldn't pay because I'd left my wallet at home.

2. With by the time, before, already: finished before that point

• By the time Mum got home, we had cleaned the whole house.

• The bakery had sold out of bread before I got there.

3. Experience up to a moment in the past — had never / had ever … before

• I'd never seen snow until I went to Sapa last winter.

• Had you met him before the wedding?

4. Reporting past thoughts or words: realised, knew, found out, said, told… (see the lesson “Reported speech”)

• I suddenly realised I hadn't turned off the stove.

• Tom said he had never eaten durian.

  his words: I have never eaten…

After when, changing the tense changes the order of the two events:

• When we arrived, the party started.

  we arrived first, then it started

• When we arrived, the party had started.

  it started before we arrived

• When I got home, Mum cooked dinner.

  I got home, then she cooked

• When I got home, Mum had cooked dinner.

  dinner was ready when I got home

💡Use had + V3 for the earlier event and the past simple for the later one. Don't put had on the later event: When I had arrived, the meeting already started ✗ → When I arrived, the meeting had already started.

• Events told in the order they happened → the past simple is enough: I got up, had a shower and went to work.
• With after, before, as soon as the order is already clear, so the past simple is fine too: After I finished / After I had finished my homework, I went out. Use had + V3 to stress that the first action was complete.
• Don't use the past perfect just because something happened a long time ago: I was born in 2000.

• After she had finished the report, she sent it to her manager.

  after + had V3 or after + past simple: both OK

The present perfect counts up to now; the past perfect counts up to a moment in the past.

• I'm not hungry. I've just eaten.

  up to now

• I wasn't hungry. I'd just eaten.

  up to then

• had been + -ing: an activity that lasted up to a past moment — We had been walking for three hours when we found a café. See the lesson “Past perfect continuous”.
• had been + V3 (passive): When we came back, our bags had been stolen.
• had + V3 is also used for an unreal past: If I had known, I would have helped (see the lesson “Third conditional”); I wish I had studied harder.

• ✗When I arrived, everyone has gone home.

  ✓When I arrived, everyone had gone home.

  The reference point is past (arrived) → had, not has.

• ✗I hadn't saw him for years.

  ✓I hadn't seen him for years.

  had + V3.

• ✗When I had arrived, the meeting already started.

  ✓When I arrived, the meeting had already started.

  had + V3 goes on the earlier event (the meeting starting).

• ✗The children were tired because they had swam all afternoon.

  ✓The children were tired because they had swum all afternoon.

  swim – swam – swum: had + V3.

• ✗She told me she has lost her phone the day before.

  ✓She told me she had lost her phone the day before.

  Reporting past words → shift back: has lost → had lost.

• ✗I had been born in 2000.

  ✓I was born in 2000.

  Don't use the past perfect just because it was long ago.