Past Simple vs. Past Perfect

There are similarities and differences between past simple and past perfect, which might cause confusion.

What is Their Main Difference?

While both tenses tend to talk about past events, there are important differences between them. Past simple tense describes actions that occurred in the past, while past perfect describes events or actions that happened before another past event or action.

Differences

Timeframe

The simple past tense refers to a completed action or event that occurred at a specific time in the past, while the past perfect tense refers to a completed action or event that happened before another action or event in the past. Pay attention to the examples:

She took the train.

Here, the speaker refers to a completed action that happened in the past.

She had packed her stuff before she took the train.

Here, the speaker mentions an action that happened before another action.

Accordingly, past perfect tends to show a stronger connection between the two actions while the simple past tense simply describes the events and actions that took place. Compare the examples:

I ate breakfast this morning. Then I left for work.

I had already eaten breakfast before I left for work.

Past perfect structures clarify the temporal connection between the two events.

Structure

The structure of the past simple and past perfect verbs are different. Let us discuss each.

1. Past Simple

The simple past tense is formed by using the past form of the verb. verbs can be regular or irregular with regards to their past form.

1.1. Regular Verbs

The past forms of regular verbs in English are formed by simply adding '-ed' to the base form of the verb. Have a look:

Walk → Walked

Call → Called

Work → Worked

Love → Loved

1.2. Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs have their own unique past forms that are not formed by adding '-ed' to the base form. Some irregular verbs don't follow any pattern and must be memorized individually. Take a look at the following table for some examples of irregular verbs:

Base Forms	Past Form
Be	Was/Were
Have	Had
Bring	Brought
Go	Went
Think	Thought

2. Past Perfect

The past perfect tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb 'had' followed by the past participle form of the main verb. So, the structure is as follows:
Subject + Had + Past participle
Take a look at some example sentences:

I had worked so hard.

I had expected much more.

Signal Words

Past simple tense and past perfect tense can both be used with signal words. Signal words are words that help us establish the order of events in the sentence. Check out the table below to see which signal words are used with each tense:

Past Simple	Past perfect
First	Before
Then	After
Yesterday	Already
Last week	By the time

Yesterday, I went to the store to buy some groceries.

She finished her homework and then watched a movie.

By the time I arrived, they had already left.

I had studied for the exam before I realized it was cancelled.

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