Past Perfect
with adverbs like already,
until,
already... by, before,
after,
just;
if either before or after is used Past Simple may be used instead Past Perfect)
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1. to say that something had already happened before another action or specific time in the past
* the action which occurs previously in time is expressed in the past perfect tense, and the action which occurs later is expressed in the past tense
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When Linda arrived her husband had left.
I read in the newspaper that he had made a great discovery. They were sure they had met the girl before. John had repaired the car by 6 o’clock. Lilly had already finished her homework when Victoria came.
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2. in reported speech after verbs like told, asked, said, wanted, wondered, explained
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He told me that he had never been in London. I asked him how many books he had sold. Your parents wanted to know what you had done yesterday. We wondered if Daniel had passed his final exam.
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3. to show regret about the past
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I wish I had brought my camera. (but I didn't)
I wish we had stayed at another hotel.
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4. in third conditional, also called conditional type 3 (if + past perfect in the 'if' clause, perfect conditional in the main clause). This is a structure we use to talk about unreal conditions in the past.
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If I had written the report last week I would have given it to you.
If the children had been good their mother would have taken them to the zoo.
He would have solved the problem if he had known how.
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5. with conjunctions like no sooner ... than or hardly/barely ... when
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No sooner had I returned home than it began to snow.
Hardly had he finished working, when his girlfriend arrived.
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6. a state that started in the past, and continued up to sometime in the past
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I had lived in Spain for 3 years before I got used to the country.
He had worked there for two years before he got fired. They had lived in New York for 5 years before they moved to Los Angeles.
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