Past Perfect and Simple Past

[marcosrodrigues1986]

Thanks!!

This Movie is very good..

I'm studying english since octouber 2011 and It's very dificult.

It's very nice to Us..Thanks..contine..

[prettylittlegame]

thanks:)

but how do u know if there was no before or after ?

[emmajustin97]

Watched your Present and Past stuff. U r really good at explaining..

I got an English exam tomorrow, wish me luck!

[DrFeelgood96100]

Do you whith which Italian verb i translate the sentences with the past perfect?

[muslimaforever24]

thanks alot it is first time i understand this lessons very eazy to understand thanks alooooooot

from Morocco

[KanalHero]

Very nicely presented thank you very much.

[CBJAMPA]

@dkhalevskyy "When I got to the the party, everyone left." means: "poor me...nobody likes to hang out with me. At the moment I arrived, everyone left". There are two actions happening at the same time. You're coming in and they're getting out. Now, "When I got to the party, everyone had left" Has another meaning: I must have arrived very late at the party because there's nobody here any longer, in other words " Everyone had already left when I got there".

[casri11]

yh

[thesuperdes1983]

Hello John, I really like the way you teach simple and easy, but what I need to know is if in the past perfect tense there are 2 forms of the past perfect: Past Perfect Simple and Past Perfect Continuous? Please explain the difference between the two. Thanks.

[andryfan]

Tx. Things make sense now. Greets from Romania!

[TheDubaialligator]

Dear Teacher, Thank you very much ! It was so easy to understand.I like this lesson bacause It's great!

[SomeKindaDream]

Very helpful, thank you.

[jgredhot]

Thanks man!! u'r the best!!

[CleopatraLoveEgipt]

You always have to use "before" in a sentence? Is there another way to recognize Past Perfect?

[EnglishwithJohn]

@CleopatraLoveEgipt NO, you don't need to use 'before', but you must use 'have or had'. However, you will use 'before' often even though not required.

[CleopatraLoveEgipt]

@EnglishwithJohn Oh, now I understand, thank you. You've been very helpful.

[gotham000]

fantastic... Thanks.

[TheFido1313]

john thank u so much for this video ... you helped me alot thanx ..

[heidyta76]

thank you for this video

[Canon60d]

Great video. I hate it when I heard people say: I seen that movie last week.

[721goto]

When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul had already gone home.

my dear teacher : EnglishwithJohn really we need you.

please Continue

thank u so much

[TehLightBlinds]

@721goto

First, Paul had gone home and THEN Sarah arrived at the party. 2 completed actions, one before the other.

[TheMrBarberan]

Thank you.

Now i feel comfortable with it!

[EnglishwithJohn]

Hi lovekhmer2008. The perfect tense needs two actions, one before the other. Your sentence is incompete because it has only one action. There must be two actions, two verbs.

For example, "I had watched many cartoons before the news came on." You need two verbs in the perfect tense - one action before the other. You have.only one,

Better to make yours a simple past sentence like, "When I was young, I watched many cartoons."

[petegoestubular]

@EnglishwithJohn

I hadn't realised the necessity of 2 verbs :-)

[petegoestubular]

@EnglishwithJohn

Good Video..

Although it's worth thinking about... "I saw the film before I had read the book"

Higgins, J.J. 2009 Chicken or egg? - on selecting the past perfect in ELT Journal Vol. 36-4-9

also

I hadn't realised the necessity of 2 verbs :-)

They had made many mistakes before they did it right is a bit unnatural

Past simple for both is better. Before is a strong time marker and often precludes the need for Perfect aspect. , but hey...

[lovekhmer2008]

when I was young, I had watched many cartoon, Have I written correctly?

[1981riza]

you are perfect teacher.