Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous

1) We form the past perfect with HAD (habia) + past participle:

Affirmative: It had started

Negative: It had not started (hadn't)

Interrogative: Had it started? Yes, it had. / No, it hadn't.

2) If we're already talking about the past, we use the past perfect to say that something happened before a certain time in the past. It was 10.00. The train had left at 9.50.

3) When there are two actions and it's clear that the first action was completed before the other action started we use the past perfect for the first action. After Simon had eaten his dinner, he went to bed.

4) When one action is one immediate reaction to another we use the past simple for both actions. He ran away as soon as he saw me. / She smiled when he spoke to her.

5) We form the past perfecr continuous when we want to emphasize that something had been in progress continuously up to a certain time in the past. When I met him, he had been living in London for 10 yeras. / Joanna had been revising for here xams all day, and now she was tired.