Is this correct?

Anonymous"There are a lot more cars outside than when I’d come," he said.Is the grammar correct? (Especially the " than when I'd come" part). Thanks.

It doesn't make sense to me. I'm more perplexed by the semantics than by the grammar. It seems that it should be simpler.

There are a lot more cars outside [than usual / than I usually see (there)].

I understand the above sentence to be:
"There are a lot more cars outside than when I arrived."
i.e. That the number of cars had increased between the time that I first got here and now.

Even so, doesn't it sound strange to use "had" ('d)?

... more ... than when I had arrived.

Why add that?

Based on the way the sentence was formed, my take is this:
There are a lot more cars outside this time/ right now than the last time I came.

Yeah, that's the basic gist of it. Just wondering if it's correct, because I'm trying to improve my tenses.

AnonymousYeah, that's the basic gist of it. Just wondering if it's correct, because I'm trying to improve my tenses.

Then your original sentence was incorrect as a whole. You had 'I'd come' which was unnecessary.

AnonymousJust wondering if it's correct, because I'm trying to improve my tenses.

OK. In that case, you'd do better to end your sentence with one of these.

than when I arrived.
than when I got here.
than when I came.

CJ