Past Perfect Simple: I had done
Past Perfect Simple is the past in the past.
Two actions happened in the Past, but at different time!
1/ We use it to talk about an action that happened in the past before an other action that happened in the past too. It looks back from a point in the past to further an other point in the past.
Peter and Jane live in Manchester. The went to London.
Jane went to London on Sunday (= Sunday is the reference time).
Peter went to London on Saturday. So, Peter wasn’t in London when Jane arrived.
=> Peter had gone back home.
When we talk about sth that happened before a reference time, we use the Past Perfect:
When Jane arrived, Peter had gone back home.
I hadn’t known the bad news when I spoke to him.
He didn’t understand what had happened.
When we got home, we found that someone had opened our window.
2/ We use the Past Perfect Simple when we report what people had said, believed, done, told, seen, thought (indirect speech). We want to explain something.
I went for a walk when I had finished my homework.
He told me he had already told her the situation.
He said he believed that Peter had moved to New York.
Darling, I thought we had already decided on a name for the baby.
Peter said that he had seen this movie.
Construction: Subject + HAD + Past Participle (done, gone, said, seen, told, thought, … )
I had gone home. We had gone home.
You had gone home. You had gone home.
He, she, it had gone home. They had gone home.
Past Perfect vs Present Perfect:
Past Perfect: smth happened in the past … and stopped in the past. HAD DONE
Present Perfect: smth happened in the past until now. HAVE DONE
Timescale: Past—Action—–NOW—————————–>
The bike was broken. The bike is broken.
They hadn’t repaired it. They haven’t repaired it.
(We did it) (We do it).
(It was the Past) (It’s the moment of speaking)
Keyword: already, always, before, ever/never, just, etc …
The Past Perfect Simple is a Past in the Past… as a Present Perfect in a past situation!
When I arrived, the movie had already begun.
I had just begun to work when the bell rang.
Past perfect + « if », « wish », « would rather »:
If they hadn’t been so lazy, they’d have finished the work now!
I’d rather I hadn’t met him.
I wish I had known this problem before!
PAST PERFECT: