| past perfect tense |
| Definition: A tense used to convey the idea that a past event has been completed prior to another past event. Note: In English you form it by adding the word had to a past participle. |
| Example: I had finished my letter before he arrived. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: The term's first OED citation is from 1530: "The thre generall distinctions of tyme, present, parfytly past, and to come." (Palsgr., Introduction, 32) |