PAST PERFECT TENSE
Singular number Plural number
First person I had spoken We had spoken
Second person You had spoken You had spoken
Third person He had spoken They had spoken
USES:
An action completed before a past action
Example:
When we arrived, the class had already begun.
In the third conditional of “if”
Example:
If it had rained, I would have bought an umbrella
In Reported speech
Example:
My student said that he hadn’t done his homework.
A period of time before an event in the past.
Example:
We had owned our house for twenty years before we sold it.
For an action that had been completed before another action began in the past.
Example:
He had appealed to the manager for a week’s leave before I reached.
To describe an action or event which has been completed before some point of time.
Example:
By 11 a.m. all the students had left the school campus after the Independence Day celebration.
To express an unfulfilled action in the past and unfulfilled wish in the past.
Examples:
If he had informed her, she would have waited for him.
I wish I had accepted the job.
The Past Perfect describes an action completed before a certain moment in the past;
as,
Examples:
I met him in New Delhi in 1996. I-had seen him last five years before.
If two actions happened in the past, it may be necessary to show which action
happened earlier than the other. The Past Perfect is mainly used in such situations. The
Simple Past is used in one clause and the Past Perfect in the other; as,
Examples:
When I reached the station, the train had started (so I couldn't get into the train).
I had done my exercise when Han came to see me.
I had written the letter before he arrived.