Past Simple vs Past Perfect

Confused about when to use the Past Simple and Past Perfect? This video breaks down both tenses, helping you understand their differences and when to use each one correctly. By the end, you’ll confidently know how to talk about past events in English with ease. Perfect for learners of all levels!

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Past Simple vs Past Perfect

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Past Simple vs Past Perfect with Answers

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Introduction:

Host: Hello and welcome to the English Magnet. Today’s video: Past Simple vs Past Perfect Made Easy! It’s always a bit of a doozy when you want to express several thoughts and events in the past all while juggling different tenses! Obviously, it’s essential to know the difference between the past simple and the past perfect. Both tenses describe actions that happened before now, but they serve different purposes. So, let’s go over their structures, key differences and some common mistakes. Alright, let’s get started!

Part 1: Past simple – structure

First, a brief review of the structure of the past simple. It’s a single word verb where we often add ‘-ed’ to regular verbs. For instance, ‘look’ becomes ‘looked.’ But, of course, some verbs don’t follow this rule. For example, ‘think’ doesn’t turn into ‘thinked’ but instead becomes ‘thought.’ There’s no trick to learning the irregular ones, but the more you encounter them the more they sink in! On the bright side, to make it negative, just pop ‘did not’ (or ‘didn’t’) before the base verb, like ‘didn’t think’ or ‘did not think.’ Remember that the auxiliary ‘didn’t’ carries the past tense and the following verb stays in the base form so the negative form doesn’t have irregular verbs; never ‘didn’t thought’, always ‘didn’t think’. Same for the question form which follows the structure ‘did + subject + base form of the verb + ?’. You get ‘did you look?’ or ‘did they think?’. If you want to learn more about the past simple, click the link.

Part 2: Past perfect – structure

Second, a brief review of the structure of the past perfect. It uses two words: ‘had’ and a past participle. such as: I had landed, it hadn’t cost, she’d frozen, had he not eaten? ‘Had’ is consistent regardless of your subject, you just need to remember that apostrophe d is its contraction and ‘hadn’t’ is the contraction of the negative form; had not. The past participle or V3 form is the tricky part here; some are regular, the -ed form, some irregular ones are a copy of the past simple, but even more are unique V3 forms. Again, like in the past simple, please notice the inversion of the subject and verb in the question form, however as you can see the swap only applies to the auxiliary, not the past participle. For more info, check out this link on the past perfect.

Part 3: Key differences

The key difference between the past simple and the past perfect revolves around the timing and relationship of past events. In short, the past simple can be used on its own to refer to a past action while the past perfect refers to a past action in relation to another past action. Here’s a breakdown:

1) Timing of events

The past simple describes a single action or event that happened at a specific point in the past.

Example: I ate breakfast at 7 AM.

The past perfect describes an action that was completed before another past action.

Example: I had eaten breakfast before she arrived.

In both cases I am eating breakfast in the past, however in the first instance it’s happening at a specific moment in the past (7 AM) while in the second one it’s happening prior to her arrival, so it’s a past action before another past action.

2) Sequence of Events

The past simple is used for events that happen sequentially in the past; one after the other.

Example: She entered the room and I sat down.

The past perfect shows that one action happened before another past action. It highlights which event happened first.

Example: She had entered the room before I sat down.

The examples here highlight different things; in the first one the past simple focuses on the sequence of the events, it’s simply a description of what was happening (she entered and I sat down). The past perfect wants to highlight the fact that an action happened before another especially when the order isn’t immediately obvious. (she entered first and then I sat down). In the end, what happened doesn’t change but the retelling of it happens through different lenses.

3) Cause and Effect

The past simple doesn’t imply any relationship between two past actions.

Example: Robert came in late and missed the meeting.

The past perfect often implies a cause and effect relationship between two events.

Example: Robert had come in late, so he missed the meeting.

Again, what happened here is the same in both examples, however the past perfect clearly shows the relationship between the two actions; coming in late is the cause of Robert’s absence in the meeting. With the past simple this conclusion isn’t self-evident.

4) Context

The past simple is used when it’s clear from context when the event happened, look for a time word relating to the past.

Example: The kids went to the park yesterday.

The past perfect is used to clarify the order of past events, especially when it might otherwise be unclear.

Example: The kids had gone to the park before it started raining.

With the word ‘yesterday’, it’s pretty clear when the kids went to the park and that it took place in the past. But with the past perfect, ‘yesterday’ wouldn’t cut it, you need another action to anchor it as an action in the past of another past action. It’s very useful especially when the order might be ambiguous or counterintuitive. In the example we understand that the kids were caught in the rain as the trip to the park took place before the rain started. Oops!

In summary, the past simple focuses on completed actions at specific moments in the past, while the past perfect emphasizes actions that happened before another past action, helping to clarify the sequence of events. The past perfect is never found alone in a vacuum since it needs context.

Part 4: Common mistakes

1) Overuse of the past perfect

Don’t use the past perfect more than once in a sentence. Moreover, if the sequence of events is already clear from context or other clues there is no need for it.

Example: Once I had met him, I had realized we had gone to the same school.
Once I met him, I realized we had gone to the same school.

You only need to use the past perfect once; for the action that happened furthest in the past (going to school). Meeting and realizing can be in the past simple.

Example: They had cleaned the house and left for the airport.
They cleaned the house and left for the airport.

In this case ‘had cleaned’ is unnecessary since the sequence is obvious without needing the past perfect (cleaning normally happens before leaving for the airport).

2) Past simple and Past perfect with When

When is used to show that two actions happened close in time. The past perfect clarifies that one action was completed before the second action in the past simple, be careful to not mix up their order. Both tenses can follow ‘when’, just remember that the punctual action is introduced by it.

Example: I finished my homework when I had watched TV.
When I had finished my homework, I watched TV.

The first sentence is incorrect since it puts watching TV happening before finishing homework. Logically, first, I finished my homework. After that, I watched TV. as the second sentence shows.

Example: We packed everything when the taxi had arrived.
We had packed everything when the taxi arrived.

Again the second sentence works here as it clarifies that the packing took place before the arrival of the cab. The first sentence is not working because the past perfect in this case wouldn’t make sense; it implies that the taxi had already arrived before the packing was done, which is less logical in this context.

Wrap up

Host: That’s it for the past simple and past perfect! Use the first one when referring to a single action in the past and the second one when an action is taking place before another one in the past! By the way, a link to some free material to practice by yourselves can be found in the description below. Hopefully, this has been helpful. Keep practicing, and you’ll get the hang of it. Thank you for watching. Until next time!

Past Simple vs Past Perfect

Grammar