No matter how many times in school they explain how a simple past time differs from a perfect past, one can understand this only by feeling the subtleties of one's own. With experience and the use of linguistic intuition, you will soon be able to determine for yourself whether to insert Past Simple or Past Perfect into a sentence, or maybe all at once. So, first you need to deal with all times, then to proceed in more detail with these two.
Tenses in English
This article should also pay attention to other times in order to clarify the general situation. As in Russian, in English there are three tenses: Present, Past and Future, and Simple, Continuous, Perfect and Perfect Continuous are the so-called states of these times. It turns out, only twelve times, not counting the constructions to be going to and Future-in-the-Past.
It may sound complicated, but it is not entirely true. Indeed, speaking in Russian, we, without noticing it, can use verbs in a variety of difficult times, just in English we study this rule more carefully. Below is a summary of the meanings of these times.
Past Perfect - the verbs and actions set in this time have occurred and completed before everyone else.
Past Perfect Continuous - in this case, the event began in the distant past. It went on for some time and in the past it ended and brought results.
Past Continuous - the event lasted for a certain time.
Past Simple - an event has occurred.
Present Perfect - the event has just ended. And brought the result.
Present Perfect Continuous - the event began in the past. And it just ended.
Present Continuous - the event is happening right now.
Present Simple - an event occurs.
Future Perfect - the event will end. And it will have a result in the future.
Future Perfect Continuous - the event will occur at some point and will end, leaving the result.
Future Continuous - the event will occur at some point in the future.
Future Simple - an event will happen.
Past Simple or Past Perfect in English
What is the difference between these two past tenses? To understand, you need to refer to the direct translation of their names. If with the past Simple, that is, simple, everything is more or less clear: this is some kind of action that occurred in the past, without some exact indication of its duration and result, then with Perfect it is a little more complicated. Perfect translates as "perfect", that is, it means an action that has definitely completed in the past and has a result. The past perfect time can be called the oldest compared to others, so if you see that one sentence has two verbs, and one of them completed the indicated action earlier than the other, then feel free to put it in the Past Perfect form.
Rules and examples
These two tenses differ also grammatically. The verb used in Past Simple must always be in the second form. The second form of verbs is a rather complicated topic, since there are two types of verbs: regular and irregular. When putting the correct ones in the second and third form, always just add the -ed ending to them . But with the wrong things are a little harder. Their second and third forms can differ both from regular verbs and from each other. Here, no rules will help, you just need to remember.
He stopped smoke. - He became a singer.
He had stopped smoke twenty years ago. - He had become a singer long time ago.
In order to use the verb in Past Perfect correctly, you need to not only put it in the third form, but always add the auxiliary verb had, regardless of gender or number.
How to understand whether you need to put a verb in the form Past Simple or Past Perfect? This should be understood by context. The simple past tense is used almost always, especially when there are no indicative words:
I made her a present. I didn't mean to hurt you!
The past perfect tense is used in two similar cases:
Tom came when Lisa had already cooked a meal. He had left before she felt asleep. - The action, standing in the past perfect time, obviously happened earlier than the simple past. You can also observe the result of the action: Tom came, and the food is ready.
He saw many pieces of glass - someone had broken the window. - In this case, the result of the committed action and its consequences are more clearly observed.
Thus, in order to determine in which case to put Past Perfect, you need to know exactly the meaning of the sentence that you want to say, while paying attention to the pointer words of the time you need, such as already, just, after or by.
Present Perfect or Past Simple? Or Past Perfect?
It is worth considering the differences in the use of Present Perfect and Past Simple in sentences, and how the past perfect time differs from the past perfect.
The main feature of the present perfect time: the action has just happened and has a result. Unlike Past Perfect, very little time has passed since the action perfect in Present Perfect:
Jerald had built his home ten years ago. - I have finished my essay yet.
But since Past Perfect is the earliest time, and both Past Simple and Present Perfect occur after it, then how to distinguish them? Very simple, you need to look again at the pointer words, context and the presence of the result of the present perfect time:
Mabel washed dishes yesterday. - Mabel has just washed dishes.
Also, when using Present Perfect in a speech, it is worth remembering that such a unique design is appropriate:
I have never been in America yet. She has never had a real birthday party. - That is, someone still has not committed any action.
And again, the difference can basically only be felt by catching the subtleties of the meaning of your proposal.