====== Past perfect ======
===== Simple form =====

==== Event in the past perfect before another past event ====

The past perfect shows that an event in the past happened **before** another event in the past.


<WRAP box 70%>
(1) Lisa **couldn’t** pay. She **had forgotten** her purse. 

(2) When Peter **arrived**, Sue **had already left** the bar.
</WRAP>


{{past-perfect-illustration-01.jpg?nolink}}

<note tip>The past perfect is used to say that one past action followed another. The action in the past perfect happened earlier.</note>

==== Past state [Zustand] before a past event====

<WRAP box 70%>
(3) She **had known** him for years when he **told** her that he was gay.

(4) When I **visited** John in the hospital, he **had been there** for three months.
</WRAP>

{{past-perfect-illustration-02.jpg?nolink}}

<note tip>We can also use the past perfect to speak about a state (Zustand) that began before a point of time in the past and lasted up to that point of time.</note>



==== Comparison: past perfect ⟷ past tense ====

=== Past perfect ===

<WRAP box 70%>
(5) When Roy’s girlfriend **arrived** he **had cooked** the dinner.

</WRAP>

{{past-perfect-illustration-03.jpg?nolink}}

The dinner is ready when she arrives.

<note tip>An event in the past perfect happened earlier than the event in the past tense.</note>

=== Past tense ===


<WRAP box 70%>
(6) When Roy’s girlfriend **arrived** he **cooked** the dinner.
</WRAP>

{{past-perfect-illustration-04.jpg?nolink}}

He starts cooking the dinner //after// she arrives.

<note tip>Several (mehrere) events in the past tense are seen as a sequence of events (Abfolge von Ereignissen) in the past (and happened in the order in which they are named in the text). This is especially common in stories etc.</note>

===== Progressive form =====

The past perfect progressive is used much like the simple form but you use it if you want to stress [betonen] the duration [Dauer] of the event in the past perfect or if it’s important to say how long it had been going on when the other past event happened.  

<WRAP box 70%>
(7) When Roy’s girlfriend **arrived** he **had been cooking** dinner **for three hours**. 

(8) Tom **had been dreaming** about doing a bungee jump **for years** when he finally **decided** to do it. 

</WRAP>

<note tip>In sentence (7) the speaker [Sprecher] wants to stress [betonen] that Roy had been cooking //for three hours//. In sentence (8) it is stressed that Tom had been dreaming //for years//. That’s why the past perfect perfect progressive is used.    </note>


{{tag>english examples grammar}}