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The past tenses are important concepts for English learners to understand. When we have a conversation, we don’t often talk in the present tense. We talk about past experiences.
The past perfect simple tense is used to talk about an action that happened before another action in the past.
For example:
“When I arrived at the venue, the band had started.”
This means that the band started before I arrived at the venue. I didn’t see the band start!
Unlike the past perfect progressive, the past perfect simple focuses on a completed action that happened before another action in the past.
The past perfect simple tense is formed using the auxiliary verb “had” plus the past participle form of the verb.
The past perfect simple tense is a great way to show the order of events that happened in the past and is commonly used in reported speech.
In the above example, it is possible to use the past simple by using the word “before”.
“The band started before I arrived at the venue.”
It is, however, a good idea to understand and use the perfect tenses as it is commonly used by native English speakers. Understanding and using the past perfect tenses correctly can help English learners communicate more clearly and accurately in their conversations and written work.
Past Simple Vs Past Perfect Simple
The word “had” in the sentence can make a big difference. Let’s look at the previous example again.
“When I arrived at the venue, the band had started.”
The above sentence means that the band started before I arrived.
Removing the word “had” changes the meaning.
“When I arrived at the venue, the band started.”
This implies that the band started at the time that I arrived at the venue.
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