Logotipo da escola Sue’s Chat & That com microfone, nome em azul, rosa e amarelo e ilustração de professora apontando
Logotipo da escola Sue’s Chat & That com microfone, nome em azul, rosa e amarelo e ilustração de professora apontando

Past Perfect Simple - 9

Past Perfect Simple - Actions Completed Before Another Past Action

🕰️Past Perfect Simple - Actions Completed Before Another Past Action

💡The Past Perfect Simple is used to talk about an action that happened before another action in the past. It helps us show the order of events clearly, especially when two past actions are involved.

🏗️Structure

PersonStructureExample
All personshad + past participleI had finished my homework before my friends arrived. 📝

🎯When to Use Past Perfect Simple

1️⃣Action completed before another past action

🔢Use Past Perfect to show which action happened first.

📝Examples:

  • 🍳I had eaten breakfast before I went to school. 🍳🏫
  • 🏠She had left the house when it started to rain. 🌧️

⚠️Common Brazilian mistake:

  • ❌"I ate breakfast before I went to school." → Correct in Simple Past, but sometimes Brazilians mix the order, thinking the first past action is obvious. Past Perfect makes it clear which action happened first.

2️⃣Reported speech or past experiences before a past moment

📅Past Perfect is used when talking about something that already happened before a past reference point.

📝Examples:

  • 🎬By the time I arrived at the cinema, the movie had started. 🎬
  • 🌊He had never seen the ocean before he went to Brazil. 🌊

⚠️Common Brazilian mistake:

  • ❌"He never saw the ocean before he went to Brazil." → This is understandable, but grammatically, Past Perfect is needed to show the first action happened before the second.

3️⃣With time expressions

⏰Common phrases used with Past Perfect: before, after, by the time, already, just, never, once

📝Examples:

  • 📚She had already finished her homework before dinner. 🍽️
  • 🏃‍♂️By the time we arrived, they had left. 🏃‍♂️🏠
  • 🍣I had never eaten sushi before my trip to Japan. 🍣

🇧🇷Tips for Brazilian students

  • ⚠️Past Perfect is not used for single past events, only when comparing two past actions.
  • 🔧Structure reminder: had + past participle
  • 🇧🇷Watch out for false translation from Portuguese: Brazilians often say "Eu tinha terminado o dever de casa ontem" → that's correct, but in English, we use Past Perfect only if another past action is mentioned: "I had finished my homework before my friends arrived."
  • ✅If there's no second past action, use Simple Past instead.

💡Quick trick

🧠Past Perfect = "the past of the past"

  • 1️⃣Think: This happened first → use Past Perfect
  • 2️⃣Then something else happened → use Past Simple

⏰Common Time Expressions

  • ⏮️before - I had eaten before she arrived.
  • ⏭️after - After I had finished, I left.
  • 🕐by the time - By the time he called, I had left.
  • ✅already - She had already gone home.
  • ⚡just - They had just arrived when it started raining.
  • 🚫never - I had never seen him before yesterday.
  • 1️⃣once - Once I had understood, everything was clear.

🔍Quick Review

✅Correct Usage:

  • 📚I had studied English before I moved to the US. (first action: study, second action: move)
  • 🎭The show had started when we arrived. (first action: show starts, second action: we arrive)
  • 🍕By 8 PM, I had already eaten dinner. (dinner finished before 8 PM)

❌Common Mistakes to Avoid:

  • 🚫"Yesterday I had gone to school" → "Yesterday I went to school" (no second past action)
  • 🚫"I had did my homework" → "I had done my homework" (past participle needed)
  • 🚫"After I arrived, I had eaten" → "After I had arrived, I ate" (wrong order)