Past Simple vs. Past Perfect

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

"Past Simple" vs. "Past Perfect" in the English Grammar

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 is 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 regard 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 canceled.

Comments

(17)
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Jul 2024
Very helpful to understand the grammer.
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Muskan singh ☠️😈
Apr 2024
See,I am not telling that the explanation Cannot satisfy anyone. But in my case,I am still confused with it. And if you can share more details about it then please do it. It will be helpful for each and every student who are willing to study hard and score good marks in there examination. I am having test tomorrow but still I am stressed about it. By the way THANK YOU for sharing your knowledge with us many students have cleared there doubt and satisfied themselves. If it is possible then please please share more videos related to tense. THANK YOU. BEST OF LUCK if someone is having exams.😃
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Langeek
Apr 2024
Thanks for the feedback! We will consider your suggestion.
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Elena Lau
Mar 2024
I want to be strong my English language and teach my son.
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Divesh Gaikwad
Feb 2024
Past perfect tense
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Feb 2024
Great teaching.
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Champa davi
Dec 2023
I want learn more
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Lawrence Baptist
Dec 2023
You made that so simple. I need to find more examples and revise but this is going to make my learning Brazilian Portuguese a lot easier many thanks
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Blessing Calemba
Oct 2023
quite clear though i still need to learn more
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Ria Rubio Diaz
Sep 2023
I want learn more
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Axyl H Pasague
Sep 2023
Past perfect tense of I loved him
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Haytham Farouk
May 2023
Well, it is a good explanation
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Santhusanthoshi
Mar 2023
Improve your knowledge
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Nada Mahmoud Ahmad
Mar 2023
what about using the past perfect sololy without any connection with the past simple? Is it wrong? For example: I had worked with several companies. ( is this sentence correct?)
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Langeek
Feb 2023
There are many examples in which using both tenses is correct. In these cases it is mostly the matter of emphasis on "showing something is an experience" rather than "merely an event or situation".
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jozef fusekla
Jan 2023
hi, i'm not a native speaker and i want to learn English, may i ask why there is I HAD WORKED so hard and not I WORKED so hard? I thought we refer to 1 action that happened. Thanks
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Langeek
Jan 2023

one thing you need to pay attention to is that while both tenses refer to an action that happened in the past, you should use past perfect when you want to mention that something that occurred before another past event or action.

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