Typical forms of this tense are as shown in:- I had misheard.
- She had misheard.
- I had finished.
- She had found them.
- She’d gone.
- They’d found her.
- Had I misheard?
- Had it gone?
- Had Mary arrived before Peter told you? – No, she hadn’t.
- I had not misheard.
- He had misheard.
- I had not finished.
- It had not worked.
- I hadn’t realized how serious the problem was.
- They hadn’t seen her.
The contracted forms are:The past perfect tense goes one step further back into the past than the present perfect.- Had you ever seen her before then? – No, I hadn’t.
The past perfect tense is used to talk about:- an action that took place in the past before something else took place.
- She had just made some coffee when I arrived.
- an action or state that began before another action in the past and continued up to the time of the second action and perhaps even beyond that time.
- Ashraf had already known my brother for two years when I met him.
- It is often used in the main clause of a complex sentence, to set the scene for a past event.
- We had always wanted to visit Canada for a long time, so last year we decided to go.
- It is often used with a time expression such as always or for several days.
- We had always wanted to visit Canada, so last year we decided to go.
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