Past Perfect Tense
How to use the Past Perfect | What's the structure of the Past Perfect Tense
Past Perfect Tense - When and How to use the Past Perfect Tense
We use the Past Perfect Tense
when something had happened before something else in the past
I looked good because I had done my make -up earlier.
Mr Pumpkin knew the answer because he had read the book earlier.
Before she moved to New York, she had learnt a lot of English.
As we're talking about an action that had happened before another one, we use 'by the time...' and 'before...' very often in these sentences.
What is the structure?
had + verb 3 (past participle form)
V3 --> speak spoke spoken
In questions and negatives:
Had everybody gone by the time he got there?
The flat was a total mess. They hadn't lived there for years
Learn with videos, further examples, funny situations - Tenses in the English Language | Visual Learning Course
