The Past Perfect Simple
We use the past perfect when there are 2 actions in the past. The first action is the past perfect and the second action is the past simple.
I had had breakfast before I went to work.
He had already finished school by the time he was 16.
We went to Wembley last night. We had never been there before.
Look at the construction:
Subject |
had |
past participle |
|
I |
had |
finished |
football when you called. |
We |
had |
drunk |
all the coke before they arrived. |
They |
had |
gone |
to bed by the time she got home. |
The past perfect is more commonly used when we write. If you are telling a story, you are already in the past and so to talk about everything which happened before we should use the past perfect.
Look at the question form:
Question word |
Auxiliary |
Subject |
Verb |
|
|
Had |
you |
seen |
“Dances with Wolves” before? |
|
Had |
you |
ever |
been to Scotland before last week? |
Where |
had |
you |
ever |
lived before you moved here? |