Mr. Maru: How was your trip to Dog World?

Sparky: Well, it was all right.

Mr. Maru: Did you not like it?

Sparky: Well, I thought I took my ticket with me when I left, but actually I forgot it.

Mr. Maru: That's not too bad.

Sparky: Yeah, I just went back home and got the ticket. When I got back home, you just left though.

Mr. Maru: Yeah, I wasn't here. Sorry.

Sparky: So, I had to go through the window, because you locked the doggy door.

Mr. Maru: You have to be safe. Did you go to Dog World?

Sparky: No, I took a nap instead.

What is the difference between simple past and past perfect tense? When do we use the past perfect tense? Is it necessary to use the past perfect tense? Let's look at some examples and some simple rules.

Past Perfect Tense

The basic meaning of the past perfect tense is an 'earlier past'. We already have a tense for the past that tense is called simple past. The past perfect tense is used to talk about an action that happened before the simple past action. For example,

I closed the door. (1^st action – simple past)
I had closed the door when John called me. (Closing the door happened first. It is the first action so we use past perfect tense. Then John called. That happened second, so we use simple past.)

Some more examples,

The party had started when I arrived. (The party already started. Then I arrived at the party.)
The party started when I arrived. (The party started and I arrived at about the same time.)

When I got to the house, he had left. (He was not in the house when I arrived at the house.)
When I got to the house, he left. (He left at about the same time as when I arrived at the house.)

The past perfect tense is often used to report or think about a past event. For example,

I thought I had locked the door. (I'm thinking about a past event.)
I told her I had cleaned the living room. (I'm reporting a past event.)

We do not need to use past perfect tense to talk about a regular completed action that happened in the past.

I graduated from Tokyo University. (NOT I had graduated from Tokyo University.)
I went to Paris. (NOT I had gone to Paris.)

Do you think you understand? Let's take a short a quiz

Past Perfect Tense Quiz

1) I _______ a horse yesterday.

A) ridden
B) have ridden
C) rode

2) The movie ______ when I pushed the play button.

A) had started

B) has started
C) started

3) I _______ if mom _______ the laundry.

A) have wondered, did
B) wondered, had done
C) had wondered, did

1) C) – We use simple past because it is a specific time (yesterday).

2) C) – The two things (push the play button, movie started) happened at about the same time.

3) B) – Mom did the laundry and then I wondered about it.

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