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Lesson 4.2 · Past tenses

Past simple or past perfect: ‘I did’ or ‘I had done’?

The past perfect has one simple job: when you are already talking about the past, it takes you further back. In business you will mostly need it in three phrases – and this page shows you all of them.

From How to Use English Verb Tenses in Business by David Cox · 200+ diagrams for professional English

When to use the past perfect

We only use the past perfect when we are already talking about something in the past (past simple) and then we go further back to something earlier in the past (past perfect).

The client was unhappy,

Past simple to talk about a past completed event

because we had missed the deadline the week before.

Past perfect to go further back to something that happened earlier in the past

It doesn’t matter if this is one sentence or two: “The client was unhappy. We had missed the deadline the week before.”

More examples: The board rejected the proposal because nobody had checked the figures. The shares fell sharply. The company had issued a profit warning the day before. She got the promotion because she had led the expansion into Asia. I recognised him at the conference – we had met in Singapore a few years earlier. By the time we signed the contract, the price had gone up by 10%.

Going back in the sequence

When we tell a story, we normally describe events in the order they happened, using the past simple. But sometimes we need to go back to something that happened earlier in the order. For this we use the past perfect, because we are moving back.

I walked into the client meeting,

Past simple to talk about past completed events, in the order they happened

I opened my laptop,

Past simple – the next event in the story

and I realised…

Past simple – the next event in the story

…that I had saved the wrong version of the presentation!

Past perfect to go further back to something that happened earlier in the past

Three common business uses

In business, the past perfect comes up most often in three constructions:

  1. We had already done… before“I didn’t want to reopen the issue because we had already discussed it.”
  2. I had never done… before“I was nervous because I had never pitched to investors before.”
  3. When I did…, …had…“When I joined the call, the meeting had already started.”

1 · ‘We had already done… before’

We spent so long yesterday discussing the same budget issues

Past simple to talk about a past event when we say ‘when’ it happened

that we had already discussed two days before.

Past perfect to move back to a time before the event

Other examples: I didn’t want to reopen the discussion because we had already agreed on the price. I knew how to handle the negotiation because I had already been in this situation before. The client didn’t need a demo – they had already seen the product at a trade fair.

2 · ‘I had never done… before’

I went to a leadership summit in Berlin last week.

Past simple to talk about a past event when we say ‘when’ it happened

I had never been to such a big event before,

Past perfect to move back to before the story begins. It adds extra context to the main story.

so I was very impressed,

Past simple to talk about a past event when we have already said ‘when’ it happened

and I made some great contacts!

Past simple to talk about a past event when we have already said ‘when’ it happened

Other examples: I was nervous before the pitch because I had never presented to investors before. I was excited to manage such a big team because I had never done it before. He introduced himself as our new CFO. I had never seen him before.

3 · ‘When I did…, …had…’

Compare these two sentences. The past perfect changes the order of events.

When I joined the call…

Past simple to talk about an event in the past when we say ‘when’ it happened

…the meeting had started.

Past perfect to move back to an earlier time

(The meeting started before I joined.)

When I joined the call…

Past simple to talk about a past event when we say ‘when’ it happened

…the meeting started.

Past simple to talk about a past event when we say ‘when’ it happened

(The meeting started just after I joined.)

Other examples: When we launched the product, our competitor had already released a cheaper version. When I got to the office, the CEO had already announced the restructuring. When the investors arrived, we had prepared everything.

Mixing tenses: putting it all together

In a real business story, the past perfect usually appears alongside the other tenses you have learnt.

I was presenting our expansion plan to the board when the chairman stopped me.

Past continuous + past simple for a continuing event interrupted by another event (Lesson 4.1)

He asked about our costs in Asia.

Past simple to talk about a past event when we say ‘when’ it happened (when the chairman stopped me)

I couldn’t answer because I hadn’t checked the latest figures.

Past simple + past perfect to go further back, to before the meeting

Since then I have always checked every number before a board meeting.

Present perfect for repeated events from ‘since then’ up to now (Lesson 3.2)

Practise this lesson

Test yourself on the past simple and the past perfect – then put all the past tenses together in a business story.

Teachers: use these diagrams

You are welcome to use these diagrams in your lessons and materials. Please credit Fluency Space with a link to this page.

Diagram: Fluency Space – fluencyspace.com/grammar/verb-tenses/past-simple-or-past-perfect/

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