[Grammar] He had bought vs He bought

[bardahan]

Hi,

I'm new here!

My question is what is the difference between "He had bought" and "He bought"?
When I need to write "Had"?

Please don't hesitate to correct me if I had a grammar mistake on this post.

Thank you,
Bar Dahan.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hi,

I'm new here!

My question is what is the difference between "He had bought" and "He bought"?
When do I need to write "had"?

Please [STRIKE]don't hesitate to[/STRIKE] correct me if I made a grammar mistake on this post.

We never hesitate to correct mistakes!

Thank you,
Bar Dahan.

Happy new year, Bar, and welcome!

What have you learned about the past perfect tense and the simple past tense? When do we use past perfect?

 

[Tarheel]

Bob: My brother Rob bought a new house.
Ned: Wow! I didn't know that!

What was the question?
;-)

 

[Tarheel]

I've been struggling to think of a sentence with "had bought" in it. (Maybe the OP has one.)

 

[Phaedrus]

I've been struggling to think of a sentence with " had bought" in it. (Maybe the OP has one.)

Consider the difference between

(i) When you got to the airport, did you buy a plane ticket?

and

(ii) When you got to the airport, had you bought a plane ticket?

In (i), the speaker asks the interlocutor whether she bought a plane ticket on arriving at the airport.

In (ii), he asks her whether she (had) bought a plane ticket before arriving at the airport.

 

[Tarheel]

That doesn't seem natural at all. If I wanted to ask if somebody had their ticket already when they got to the airport I would say:

Did you have your ticket already when you got to the airport?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I've been struggling to think of a sentence with "had bought" in it. (Maybe the OP has one.)

Yes, that's who I'm asking.

But Bardahan might have left the building.

 

[Rover_KE]

That appears to be the case. Let's put this thread on hold until we hear back from the OP.