We can use the past perfect to show the order of two past events. The past perfect shows the earlier action and the past simple shows the later action. - When the police arrived, the thief had escaped., We can also use the past perfect followed by before to show that an action was not done or was incomplete when the past simple action happened. - They left before I'd spoken to them., when we are reporting our experience up to a point in the past: - My eighteenth birthday was the worst day I had ever had., for something that happened in the past and is important at a later time in the past: - I couldn't get into the house. I had lost my keys.,

Past Perfect Rules

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