Simple past and Past Perfect

[solace]

I have two sentences:
He locked the door.
He went out for dinner.
Which tense we should use to connect them?
He locked the door and went out for dinner
Or: He had locked the door before going out for dinner.
Tell me which one is better? and the meaning of each one?
Tks

[RonBee]

Neither one is necessarily better, but we would normally use simple past there. There is, absent context, no reason to use past perfect there.

:)

[solace]

"Neither one is necessarily better." I haven't caught your idea
I will put my sentence in a situation like that: My house has been stolen and I want to insist to everybody that I locked the door before going out. Whether I should use the past perfect tense?
" I had locked the door before going out for dinner"
:)
Oh, by the way, what is an absent context?

[moonlite]

How about this.

He locked the door before (he) went out for dinner.

Sounds more natural.

[solace]

How about this.

He locked the door before (he) went out for dinner.

Sounds more natural.

Hi,
As I know, "before" is a prep and be followed by a noun or a gerund. So I don't think we should omit the subject (He). How about you?

[moonlite]

I am no teacher. But what you say sounds ok to me. However, in general conversations, that sentence is often heard.

[Tdol]

I agree with Solace- it should be 'before going' or 'before he went'.

[RonBee]

"Neither one is necessarily better." I haven't caught your idea
I will put my sentence in a situation like that: My house has been stolen and I want to insist to everybody that I locked the door before going out. Whether I should use the past perfect tense?
" I had locked the door before going out for dinner"
:)
Oh, by the way, what is an absent context?

If I say "Neither one is necessarily better" then I mean that there is no reason to believe that one is better than the other.

In your example I would use the simple past. It is not necessary to use the past perfect. (I assume that you meant that your house had been burgled.)

Context is the surrounding sentences--the sentences that come before and after a sentence.

:)

[solace]

Now, I do understand. Thanks :)
Another question: Which cases should we use past perfect tense?

[solace]

I am no teacher. But what you say sounds ok to me. However, in general conversations, that sentence is often heard.

Hi,
If you say so, everybody can understand you. However I think it is not a standard English.
Anyway, such utterance will be accepted in verbal communication:)