The difference between past tense and past perfect tense

Hi All,

What up?

Yesterday I had written about “The difference between always and forever”

And today I’ll try to explain something which is very confusing for many students, when to use the past tense and past perfect tense.

We use past tense in sentence which have just one verb and were happened.

We use past perfect tense in sentences which have more than one verb and one of actions happened before other one.

I know this is probably still confusing, so let me give you some example sentences.

Ø  I worked at Infineon company for fifteen years

Ø  I had worked at Panasonic company for six months before I came to Infineon company

In the first sentence, we have to use simple past tense because they only one verb (worked), and it is describing a completed action.

In the second sentence, we must change to the perfect tense (I had worked) because the presence of the word “came” in the sentence.

The action of working at Panasonic Company happened before coming to Infineon Company. And there is a direct connection between them, so we use the past perfect tense.

It is important to emphasize the fact there must be a direct relationship between two actions in order to use past perfect tense. If there is not a direct relationship between them, both verbs will use the simple past tense. For example:

Ø  I studied at the library before I came home.

Ø  I watched TV after I finished my homework.

In these cases, there is no direct connection studying in the library and coming home or watching TV and finishing the homework. They simply happen before or after each other.

However, if we can establish a direct connection, then we can use the past perfect tense. For example:

Ø  My teacher had given me a lot of homework, so I studied at the library all day.

Ø  I bought a new computer yesterday because I had wanted one for long time.

In these cases, the words “so” and “because” establish a direct connection between the two ideas, so the one that happened first must be in the past perfect tense.

If anyone has any questions or something wrong, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Thanks and regards

Narupi