that summer he had just learned...

Question

This sentence was just used in a movie I was watching: "that summer he had just learned how to go down a slide" Why do we have to use the word "had". Can't we just leave it out? If we can't, I'd love to know when/why to use "had" when talking about the past.

I do know that we use "had" if something happened before somethig else.

Thanks! (I used my iPhone to enter the site, the layout could be messed up, sorry for that)

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Emre25This sentence was just used in a movie I was watching: "that summer he had just learned how to go down a slide" Why do we have to use the word "had".

It all depends on the context, and the relationship of this event to a sequence of other events in the past.

Jacques lived in Paris from 1988-1991. Before coming to Paris, he had lived for many years in the south of France.

CalifJim · Answer

Emre25Why do we have to use the word "had"?

Depending on the context, it's possible that we don't have to use "had".

Nevertheless, it seems that the conversation that was going on before this statement was made was probably focused on events that happened in the past which occurred after he had learned to go down a slide.

When we are talking about events in the past, we use the past tense. That's obvious. But when we're still focused on that past time period but we wish to refer to an event that occurred even earlier than the time we're mainly focused on, we use the past perfect tense, i.e., the tense with "had".

CJ

JaxTeller · Answer

Thanks for the replies! I must have missed the conversation before this sentence was used.

Michaeln R · Answer

Look up Past perfect

that summer he had just learned...

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