Grammar: Groups & phrases: Verb group: Time & tense

Past perfect

Using the past perfect with other tenses

The past perfect is very commonly used together with the past simple, to indicate that one action or event occurred before another.

In this example, we can see that the event referred to filled his bag took place at a point in the past before he became ready to go.

When presenting the past perfect, it is useful to compare two versions of the same example:

SleepStealer was ready to go [then], he had filled his bag. 
                                                                       past perfect

SleepStealer is ready to go [now], he has filled his bag. 
                                                                present perfect

Note the changes in tense. The second example refers to present time, and the use of the present perfect indicates the current relevance:

Sometimes, it helps to reverse the two clauses in order to emphasise the current relevance:

SleepStealer has filled his bag - he is ready to go now.