THE PAST PERFECT TENSE

When two actions happened in the past, to show the contrast between those actions we use the Past Perfect Tense along with the Simple Past Tense.

STRUCTURE:

 Subject + had + V3 + Rest of the sentence.

MAKING POSITIVE SENTENCE
Subject	Helping Verb	Main Verb (V3)	Rest of the sentence
I	had	gone	to school.
We	had	gone	to school.
You	had	gone	to school.
He	had	gone	to school.
She	had	gone	to school.
It	had	gone	to school.
Raju	had	gone	to school.
They	had	gone	to school.
Raju and Rani	had	gone	to school.
MAKING NEGATIVE SENTENCES
Subject	Helping Verb	Adverb	Main Verb (V3)	Rest of the sentence
I	had	not	gone	to school.
We	had	not	gone	to school.
You	had	not	gone	to school.
He	had	not	gone	to school.
She	had	not	gone	to school.
It	had	not	gone	to school.
Raju	had	not	gone	to school.
They	had	not	gone	to school.
Raju and Rani	had	not	gone	to school.
MAKING POSITIVE INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES
Helping Verb	Subject	Main Verb (V3)	Rest of the sentence
Had	I	gone	to school?
Had	we	gone	to school?
Had	you	gone	to school?
Had	he	gone	to school?
Had	she	gone	to school?
Had	it	gone	to school?)
Had	Raju	gone	to school?
Had	they	gone	to school?
Had	Raju and Rani	gone	to school?

MAKING NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES
Helping Verb	Subject	Adverb	Main Verb (V3)	Rest of the sentence
Had	I	not	gone	to school?
Had	we	not	gone	to school?
Had	you	not	gone	to school?
Had	he	not	gone	to school?
Had	she	not	gone	to school?
Had	it	not	gone	to school?
Had	Raju	not	gone	to school?
Had	they	not	gone	to school?
Had	Raju and Rani	not	gone	to school?

USAGE:

When there are two actions in the past, we tend to express the earlier action with the Past Perfect Tense and the later action with the Simple Past Tense:

After Dravid had eaten an apple, he washed his hands.

 ( Eating an apple is the first activity and washing of hands is the next activity ).

Before I went to the temple, I had bought a coconut to offer God.

( Buying a coconut is the first activity and going to the temple is the next activity ).

I discovered that my friend had finished his project.

( Finishing off my friend's project is the first action and I discovered it is the next action ).

These two actions in the past also are used in the Simple Past Tense instead of the combination of the Simple Past Tense and the Past Perfect Tense. You can find differences between these two contexts here:

When she approached the wall, the bird flew away.

(The bird flew away after she approached the wall)

When she approached the wall, the bird had flown away.

( The bird flew away before she approached the wall)

The Past Perfect tense should not be used alone with the adverb of a past time:

I had done my duty yesterday.

I did my duty yesterday.

It is always better to use the Simple Past Tense to mention a single activity rather than the Past Perfect Tense:

Elan had brought a gift for Sushi.

Elan brought a gift for Sushi.

In the past when the second event is the result of the first event, we express these two ideas in the Simple Past Tense but not with the association of the Past Perfect Tense:

He became nervous after he met with an accident.

It turned into brown colour after I mixed red colour into black.

To express unreal past events we take the help of the Past Perfect Tense:

If I had gone to school, I would have finished my school final year successfully.

I wish you had told me the secret,

I wish you had purchased the book.

 We use the Past Perfect Tense with an idea unit of, " It was the .......time :

It was the third time he had requested the same.

It was the second time she had shown the same picture.

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