rammar 2 Past perfect tenses and past simple about the past perfect tenses vs the past simple. e sentences which talk about the past, it is clear which action happened first. In this case the past simple for both actions. However, when the order of events is not clear, or whe emphasise which action happened first, we can use the past perfect simple, or the past ous, for the first action. tened/had listened to the weather forecast before he left for the beach. ater that I hadn't donated enough money to the flood victims. d been digging for ages before they found any survivors. We must use the past simple for both actions when one past action happens quickly afte